International Journal of Education & the Arts

Volume 8 Number 7

July 20, 2007

Walking with a Ghost:
Arts-Based Research, Music Videos, and the Re-Performing Body

Pamela G. Taylor
Virginia Commonwealth University

Shannon O. Wilder
University of Georgia

Kathryn R. Helms
Virginia Commonwealth University

Citation: Taylor, P. G., Wilder, S. O., & Helms, K. R. (2007). Walking with a Ghost: Arts-based research, music videos, and the re-performing body. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 8(7). Retrieved [date] from http://www.ijea.org/v8n7/.

Abstract
In folk-rock duo Tegan and Sara's 2004 music video Walking with a Ghost, two women face one another, mirrored images in black and white. One is dressed in black - grunge shirt, pants and boots, while the other stands barefoot in a simple white dress. The black-clad figure removes three red paper hearts from her twin's chest, leaving crimson gashes in her clothing as the white-clad twin morphs into three mutilated figures. The wounded trio sings to their other self, "no matter which way you go, no matter which way you stay, you're out of my mind, out of my mind . . ." In this article, we respond to the ways that Tegan and Sara's music video relies on their twin bodies as visual and metaphorical narrative devices as well as sites for re-inscribing cultural memory. We do this by presenting and analyzing our personal audiovisual responses (hypertextual video shorts) to Walking with a Ghost. Employing an autoethnographic arts-based research approach, we visually and metaphorically inscribe our own video bodies with text and images to explore personal and cultural reactions. Further, using the experiences of a graduate art education technology class' work with the video, we share the curricular implications for understanding how memory and the body affect, inform, and alter human perception.

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