Preparing to research LGBTQI+ lives with children: an imaginary conversation with Kathleen Quinlivan about failure, art and hope

At this juncture, I find myself orientating towards the unruliness of doing arts-based praxis-oriented research with primary school-aged children (aged 5–12) on the topic of LGBTQI+ lives. As I prepare for what feel like disruptive research directions that will chart what many still consider to be forbidden territory with children, I attempt to connect with, remember and think with Kathleen Quinlivan. In a sense, this article is an imaginary conversation as I embark on the at once exciting and da3unting messiness of doing arts-based research with children. Working with Kathleen’s concept of ‘affective failure’, I reflect on the inevitability of failure in this kind of research, and how dominant discourses of mastery and success weigh heavily on the teacher/researcher disposition. Thinking also with her reflections on ‘affective practice’, I consider how to maintain an orientation towards being ‘undone’ in research encounters with children, and about the generative potential of art and arts-based research methods for coming at controversial topics ‘slantwise’.