Feminist ‘Pensive-Creative Praxis’ and Irigaray: A porous, dialogical encounter

In this chapter, I draw on my own feminist audio-visual practice to showcase the importance of practice for theory. I propose a novel reading of Luce Irigaray’s philosophy of the caress and in particular her notion of the space in-between that shares concerns with film-philosophical theories and debates around creative practice research. Jennifer M. Barker’s (2009) film- phenomenological work on porosity is particular useful in this context. My central contention is that the metaphor of the “pores” can serve as a catalyst to explore the embodied creative research process as an object of study and the role as researcher/practitioner in this process. Said differently and for the purpose of this chapter, porosity allows me to consider three key ideas: permeability, imperfections and the potential that can arise from creative practice research – moving beyond traditional patriarchal scholarship towards what I term “feminist pensive-creative praxis”. I argue for an embodied methodology, drawing on Laura Mulvey’s (2006) work as well as making use of Robin Nelson’s (2013) understanding of ‘praxis’ as ‘theory imbricated within practice’, to suggest that this approach foregrounds the dialogical and creative interplay of the porous, dialogical encounter, as well as its political intent.