Drawing a canvas of career dreams and passions in life context: A visual study on self-making

Drawing on a wide range of examples of drawings, from adventurous cartoons to depictions of ‘ideal lives’, from linear mountain-climbing routes to chaotic labyrinths, we develop an understanding of career passions and dreams as ‘slices of self- making’ through imagined futures. In doing so, we explore how ideas about the human subject, and its capacities for self-making and career construction, form a basis for re-conceptualizing the role and significance of dreams and passions in understanding careers in a life context. We show how visual data can be used as a catalyst for understanding the diversity and multiplicity of passions, desires, and dreams as a means for dealing with the uncertainty of imagined futures. We argue for a visual turn in career studies based on the utility of participant drawings for a deeper understanding of the range of career dreams, passions, and desires in the overall life context.