‘Portal Disrupt’ by Vikki Parker
Mixed Media on Canvas – 30cm x 30cm
As an ex-drama teacher of 16 years, I was inspired to respond to the Education roundtable as an act of hope and a reminder that creativity is not a frivolous want, but a core need. One that I held space for to support the emotional regulation and imaginations of all my students.
Education is fundamentally an intimate, individual experience that writes a legacy on the heart, mind, and body, and influences the rest of a person’s life. The system delivers to a collective, often forgetting the whole person, despite attempts to show otherwise. Without the arts we are breeding robots for systems.
In my painting I ask the question ‘if this glorious expansion is not happening within a child at school, then what are doing?'
If we know this is not happening, or is in fact being consciously prevented, then we are dealing with a very different beast. A sad beast who ironically is in more desperate need of cultivating an inner landscape of wild joy than the children they are trying to imprison in a dark cell of inner restriction.
For me, education is about guiding a child to discover the magic inside them and planting seeds of wonder to sow a lifetime of curiosity and expression.
I was honoured to support the thousands of children I taught. I left teaching to be an artist. During my school years I was told that art was not a job. I kept my own magic alive.
Vikki Parker
