Imitative or Iconoclastic? How Young Children use Ready‐Made Images in Digital Art. (9th July 2016) - Sakr, Mona
Abstract: Digital art‐making tends to foreground the inclusion of ready‐made images in children's art. While some lament children's use of such images, suggesting that they constrain creativity and expression, others have argued that ready‐made digital materials offer children the opportunity to create innovative and potentially iconoclastic artefacts through processes of 'remix' and 'mash‐up'. In order to further this debate, observations are needed to explore the different ways that children use ready‐made images in their digital art and the various purposes that these images can serve. Adopting a social semiotic perspective, this article offers an in‐depth examination of five episodes of 4–5 year‐olds' digital art‐making that collectively demonstrate the diversity of approaches that young children take towards the inclusion of ready‐made images in their digital art‐making. The article discusses these findings in relation to suggestions for what adults can do to support children to adopt a playful and critically aware approach to the use of ready‐made images in digital art‐making.