This paper explores how 'speaking with' operates as a feminist research method in fine art practice. In this paper I differentiate 'speaking with' from speaking ‘to’ or ‘for'.
Following from feminist writing strategies of direct-speech (Irigaray), autofiction (Nelson and Kraus) and ficto-criticism (Randolf), 'speaking with' examines how the adoption of voicing through the first person, autobiographical or otherwise, allows the questions of speaking, (being who is speaking, how are they speaking, and why are they speaking) to be articulated through a written and performative art practice. In addition it enables us to ask 'how does how does the body speak?
This paper presents a new performative text work which utilises 'speaking with', allowing for gaps in history, knowledge, and unknowing to appear; making heard the unspoken.
'Speaking with' calls into question the ethics of speaking of and with others, as well enabling a listening of more than just the voice. capturing and voicing the somatic, inanimate, and intimate, challenging how text operates in fine art research practice.