Fake it ’til you make it and other mantras to completing a practice-led/-based/with PhD

Defining the boundaries of practice-based and practice-led PhD programmes is often confusing. Undoubtedly, doctoral programmes are challenging, and feelings of “imposter syndrome” and anxiety tend to go hand in hand with such intense levels of study. Adding an individual’s arts practice on to this furthers the feeling of uncertainty. In this paper, I explore how notions of practice-based and practice-led research can be interpreted differently. I discuss my personal experiences as an artist navigating the field of academia and how I used the Practice-as-Research model within my research. This paper opens with some daunting encounters experienced during my PhD, as I had to defend what it was I was doing and figure out what exactly I was supposed to do. Notions of “practice-based”, “as”, “with”, or “led” research were always discussed; however, truly knowing how to use these methods and apply them to a form of studio practice and academic study was challenging. Here, I explain my journey and methodology as I worked through my research questions within my art practice and theoretical enquiry.