The revealing gaze. A visual investigation of the previous creative processes in schools on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa

Abstract

This research sought to analyse the stages prior to artistic creation in school students from marginalised areas of Tegucigalpa (Honduras), characterised by extreme poverty, social exclusion and lack of opportunities. The study is part of the Bombearte 2024 project and its main objective was to investigate how this internal creative process manifests itself in students, examining and portraying their physical and emotional responses during its initial phases. To this end, participant observation and photographic images were used to construct a visual perspective that aesthetically represented the visible traces of behaviours such as expectation, observation, surprise and creative illumination prior to the physical process of creation. In this sense, educational research through the visual arts is a methodological approach that allows prospective observation to be combined with image analysis and spatial organisation to construct or generate a visual idea of students' bodily and emotional responses. Among the most significant results, it is noteworthy that, although photography managed to capture various related emotional and physical responses, it was not possible to determine a precise correlation between these physical manifestations and the specific phases of the creative process. However, it was possible to visually confirm the existence of these physical, emotional and interactive responses during the stage prior to creation.