LGBTQ Youth Citizenship and Subjectivities

In this dissertation, I explore how LGBTQ youth negotiate understanding of their subjective positions and alliances as cultural citizens through art creation. This work addresses the manner in which LGBTQ youth express their subjective positionings within the context of an art creation forum that becomes generative of conversations and artistic creations that inform on the subject. Because it is believed that when youth engage with each other in the context of a safe social forum, they feel allowed to share openly with their peers about critical issues that impact their lives. It is through the context of sharing life experiences that reveals new understandings of the self and can become both inspirational and generative. I propose this form of engagement, when paired with art- based methods, allows LGBTQ youth to inspire narratives that are highly informative.Through application of both traditional and non-traditional research methods, data creations and data analysis the researcher and participants became entangled in a process that resulted in multi-layered understandings. This approach was generative of a variety of visual artwork, which included acrylic paintings, clothing patches, pencil drawings and digitally altered photographs. What was found was that subjectivities are fractured, but participants realized the power of their subjective positionings through identification of individual and creative potentials as the conversations and art production revealed the power of technologies of the self and care of the self. Because of this, participants were able to consider their how their individual growth could contribute to a better future for themselves and their community.