Translanguaging, creativity and the arts

Translanguaging, as one of multiple approaches to conceptualising dynamic multilingualism, has really ‘captured people’s imaginations’ (Li Wei, 2018: 10). And it is not just the imaginations of linguists researching language and multilingualism in classrooms: translanguaging has also started to be explored more and more in creative arts contexts, for example with visual arts and performance. This exploration can also be defined as creative in itself. Examples include translanguaging as a lens for exploring multilingual practices in the arts and as a conceptual starting point for multidisciplinary artistic practice. In this chapter I bring translanguaging into dialogue with a move in recent years to conceptualise applied linguistics research in collaboration with artists, within creative practice contexts, and which brings in creative methodologies. I critically examine the relationship between translanguaging and creative inquiry, using examples from a diverse range of research projects. These examples will offer insights into how translanguaging has been used as a theoretical lens for research with, into and through the arts and how arts practice and creative contexts can enrich and deepen our understandings of translanguaging.