Catherine Cartwright- Thinking about Trauma-informed Community Arts Practices

Thinking about Trauma-informed Community Arts Practices

Many artists work with communities, in long-term projects and one-off workshops. It’s a key way of earning for some and for others it’s central to their social art practice. The benefits of art-making for well-being and mental health are widely recognised and it is commonplace for artists to be working with communities impacted by trauma. How do we ensure, however, that we are not compounding the trauma of the people we work with, while also supporting ourselves to stay well?

In this talk, Catherine shares some of the learning from her PhD into trauma-informed artist practice, where she worked in partnership with Devon Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Services running collage projects with survivor-victims. The talk will include discussion of trauma and its effects, and an exploration of how artists may work safely with communities.

Catherine has a Masters in Multidisciplinary Printmaking from the UWE Bristol (2018). Her PhD, awarded 2024, was a deep dive into ‘trauma-informed’ artist practice and the potential of collage for both trauma-informed practice and research methodology.

Microsoft Teams – Join:

https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/36159754179580?p=Lmdxpco5cSDqlL0krd

Meeting ID: 361 597 541 795 80

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