Artistic Techniques in Fat Studies. Methodological and Ethical Dilemmas

The ABR (Arts-Based Research) is a versatile, creative, and accessible research method used to investigate non-exclusively verbal discourses (Kara, 2015; Scribano, 2016). Thus, we can find these types of techniques in research focused on vulnerable, stigmatized individuals, or those at risk of being so. ABR reformulates the relationships between researchers and participants, involving participants in the research process from design to analysis, as well as in the feedback phase (Leavy, 2009; Carrillo, 2014).

In the specific context of my research, I draw from fat studies, exploring the violence and pain associated with embodying fatness. In this way, my methodological journey traverses autoethnography not only through words but also through drawings and textures, allowing me to explore uncertainties and subsequently design group techniques with the participants.

In my work, I explore how desire is constructed in bodies that embody fatness, shaped by fatphobic violence, through artistic and group techniques. This involves various methodological interests, such as the digitalization of body mapping techniques (Castro, 2023), as well as the exploration of texture to incorporate folds and fat.

I consider this process to be a twisted and uncertain path where it is necessary to get lost. I would like to reflect on our positions as participants and researchers, examining where we stand and where we want to go—or not go. This approach enables us to address the ethical limits of our own self-explorations and the potential consequences within our everyday academic environments.