ABSTRACT
Autoethnography is an evolving methodology that values and legitimises personal stories and evocative academic work, and can facilitate recovery from personal events that have been difficult or traumatic. C. Ellis and A. P. Bochner suggest that autoethnographers engage in a process whereby a vulnerable self is somehow exposed and their story is explored by work that is personal, moving and transformational, and that resists cultural interpretations. Autoethnographers “zoom backward and forward, inward and outward, distinctions between the personal and cultural become blurred, sometimes beyond distinct recognition”. The collaboration is an example of arts-based autoethnography that uses evocative stories to intersect with evocative images of the research process. Reality is unmappable- too big, sprawling and changeable to be captured entire on paper or canvas. It is like trying to trap a giant squid with a rock pool net.
