Experiencing artistic practice as means towards human “formativity”:
a phenomenological approach

Sylvie Morais

There is no doubt that artistic ‘practice’—notably in the domain of the plastic/visual arts—involves the development of the individual; its inherent value as a way of human learning is rarely contested. Moreover, there appear to be few queries into the conditions that might favour such existential education. How did the plastic/visual arts come to be a place of ‘formativity’? Inspired by the thinking of Bernard Honoré on beings and education, the author chose a phenomenological approach to question this important topic through her experience of painting as a place/space of emergence.