Sustainability and creativity through mail art: A case study with young artists in universities

Sanz Hernández A. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Covaleda I.

Resumen: Universities around the world are making considerable efforts to contribute to sustainable development through their institutional frameworks, education, research or community awareness. This article discusses how young artists connect with sustainability problems through an analysis of individual artistic creativity (visions, sources of inspiration, messages and communicative strategies) by means of a novel interpretive arts-based research methodology: mail art. A collection of mail art individually created by 29 young artists who also provide self-reports on the meaning of their work, the creation process and its intent are analyzed using a qualitative content analysis methodology complemented by an aesthetic inquiry into the artistic qualities and creative techniques of the collection. The research concludes that the collection reproduces but also produces messages promoting a sustainability culture. It promotes individual actions for sustainability with everyday creativity using expert knowledge and describes visions and attitudes expressed by young people to detect gaps and to develop a more informed education for sustainable development in universities. Although there are individual differences, the participants generally show appropriate values -such as universalism-, and a desire for ethical action within an ecocentric worldview, displaying constructive hope. However, the collection stands out for a collective, global and future-oriented, versus individual, local and present-oriented framing, running the risk of becoming visions that can delay transformative actions. Some of the most conclusive recommendations of the study are the need to work on the issues of equity and equality in universities today, to enhance the critical perspective of students and to change their current role from that of merely observers to agents for change. © 2021 The Authors

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128525

Año: 2021

Publicado en: Journal of Cleaner Production 318 (2021), 128525 [13 pp]
ISSN: 0959-6526

Factor impacto JCR: 11.072 (2021)

Categ. JCR: GREEN & SUSTAINABLE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY rank: 5 / 47 = 0.106 (2021) - Q1 - T1
Categ. JCR: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES rank: 24 / 279 = 0.086 (2021) - Q1 - T1
Categ. JCR: ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL rank: 9 / 55 = 0.164 (2021) - Q1 - T1

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 15.8 - Engineering (Q1) - Energy (Q1) - Business, Management and Accounting (Q1) - Environmental Science (Q1)

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 1.921 - Environmental Science (miscellaneous) (Q1) - Strategy and Management (Q1) - Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (Q1)

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Sociología (Dpto. Psicología y Sociología)