Context and performativity in identity choices : artists, designers and the academy

Universities employ practicing artists and designers to teach in higher education art and design programs. These members of the academy inhabit at least two professional worlds: that of art/design and that of academia, and this has a bearing on their identity construction. How then do artists and designers teaching in universities conceptualise their identity? Do they see themselves as artists/designers or academics? Do they view themselves as a combination of both? Is one identity privileged over the other? Or do these identity labels sit comfortably alongside each other? Does participating in multiple professional worlds create identity problems for artist/designer-academics? I focus on these questions in this article to explore qualitative data from a recent Australian study involving artist/designer-academics as participants. Through analysis of the data, I argue that artists and designers in universities conceptualise their identity in myriad ways. There is not one singular identity. Rather, it is shifting, changing, and performative in nature, influenced by the power and authority of habitus and dependent on context. Understanding more about this under-researched area will enable the academy to develop a deeper view of artist/designer-academics with possible implications for other practitioner-based academic disciplines.