Special section editorial

Art, access and agency - art sites of enabling

Abstract

It is our sincere pleasure and privilege to introduce the reader to this special edition of Image & Text—‘Art, Access and Agency - art sites of enabling’. The collection of articles and interviews contained herein serves as the outcome of the three-day conference-event, ‘Art, Access and Agency - art sites of enabling’, presented over two years ago on 7-9 October 2021 by the School of the Arts in collaboration with the Transformation Directorate, University of Pretoria. Since then, it has taken many patient hours to transcribe, edit, peer review and otherwise transform the many varied presentations that formed the basis of the conference-event into its present textual format. We are pleased to present the results to readers and introduce them to the thoughts and ideas that underpin the project as a whole. In what follows, we briefly describe the process of conceptualising the project, outline the overall research question and sub-questions and describe the processes of its implementation and methodologies at stake therein. We also briefly introduce the many varied scholarly responses to the research project and show how they align with the project’s particular vision.