Ana Mae Barbosa and the Freirean "Triangular Approach": A Case Study

This article analyzes the key aspects of Ana Mae Barbosa’s revolutionary and postcolonial approach to visual art literacy in educational contexts such as museums and schools. Using an interpretative methodology, the essay underlines the influence of Paulo Freire’s pedagogy on Barbosa’s “Triangular Approach” (i.e., contextualization, reading of the image, art production). This text underlines how the decolonial curriculum, the concepts of inclusiveness, and the encounter have characterized her projects, and they are fundamental for us today in a global society. The struggle against every oppression and the intercultural dialogue are some of the most significant landmarks of Barbosa’s democratic educational praxis. Dismantling the simplistic logic of “free expression” and “creativity,” she has introduced an epistemology of visual art teaching, breaking the boundary between museum and life and between arts and everyday life. One emphasizes how, for Barbosa, the art education curriculum has to respect children’s needs, development, interests, and the cultural features of the discipline. The importance of popular and Black art, interculturalism, and the democratization of arts and culture are equally important in her educational projects. This article stresses how Barbosa is one of the most prominent pioneers in Freirean and decolonial visual art literacy.