The Role of Art in the Novel Conceptual Instruction of Peace: A Phenomenological Perspective

So far, different methods have been used for instructing peace in which art has been underused. In order to do this research, the researcher created some works of art that were presented in several exhibitions through which the role of art in relation to the peace instruction was evaluated. The research method was phenomenological. Data were obtained from collecting and analyzing the experiences of 75 visitors of 82 works in two exhibition-workshops through the feedbacks provided from open questions and in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed by using thematic analysis. First of all 73 basic attributes were extracted from the data. These attributes were organized into six themes (surprise, understand the multiplicity and challenges, dynamism, harmony, creativity and infinite) and finally formed the inclusive theme of infinity. Based on thematic analysis of participants’ experiences visitors felt astonishment and confusion among contradictions and contrasts, creation, freedom and peace that can be observed in human, society, nature and the universe. The outcome of this analysis was that art can help in finding the meaning of human life. Participants could understand the link between the inner world of the painter (which saw manifested in pictures) and the world within themselves. They could arrive at a definition of life that helps them reach the correct understanding of peace. So, art can be used to teach the concept of peace, because art as the expression of beauty gives a peaceful feeling to humans. So for being in peace, the human needs to understand the infinity of artistic life, which is the understanding of the infinity of human existence. In the peace-oriented education, children experience and understand these concepts and live them.