Writing the Invisible

Writing the Invisible offers an honest glimpse into my process as a researcher as I explored the role of words and their ability to convey my and others’ aesthetic knowledge. In questioning the effectiveness of language to adequately share nuanced and ephemeral experience, this chapter dives into the ultimate power of words, not only to describe space, but to evoke and create it. Drawing from various writers, artists, and academics to explore stories told through text and material spaces, we begin to see space as a contributing character, and in some cases, co-author of the plot. In this sense, the narrative framework becomes an important aspect of experiencing, creating, and documenting our environment. Words and conversations with space can surface qualities of the material world, becoming entwined with our experience of them. Listening to and speaking with space are part of how we perceive and notice our surroundings. I also investigate the potential within the act of noticing as a way to attune and attend the material world. This chapter is aimed at reflexive researchers and practitioners looking at the nuanced ways in which space takes shape in their writing and research. As space is explored on the page, readers (and writers) can simultaneously connect with their own surroundings. Reflecting on how space shows up will transform writing and speaking into spatial practices in and of themselves.