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Catarina Araújo: Artist in Residence 2022 with Waterford Healing Arts Trust / University Hospital Waterford.
Have you ever wanted to press pause on your busy life? Artist Catarina Araújo has been selected as Waterford Healing Arts Trust’s Artist in Residence for 2022. Through her project Pause || Play, Catarina will offer staff of University Hospital Waterford (UHW), the opportunity to take some creative time out from their busy lives. The Artist in Residence scheme is funded by the Arts Council.
Catarina Araújo is a visual artist based in Cork city since 2017. Originally from Portugal, Catarina holds an MA in Art and Process from MTU Crawford College of Art and Design. Working with sculpture, printmaking and film, her practice researches mental health and behavioural patterns by exploring the connection between the body, mind and past experiences. She aims to expand the field of art and mental health, using artistic approaches to explore new methods of addressing mental health distress.
For her residency, Catarina will offer hospital staff opportunities to experience art making through drop-in sessions at lunchtime and a series of evening workshops:
I am looking forward to offering the staff at UHW time to engage in a creative and imaginative art making project that reflects on the importance of taking time and space to oneself. I hope the staff will join me in playful workshops, where individual concepts will be developed through conversations, leading to the creation of small-scale sculptural work.
The WHAT Artist in Residence programme is a means of engaging staff or patients in contemporary arts practice and is also an opportunity for artists to develop their professional practice within an acute hospital context.
Catarina’s practice is all about play and experimentation with a focus on allowing the self to take time to pause and reflect. We feel this will be a welcome offering for staff, particularly after the last very difficult couple of years. – Claire Meaney, Director of Waterford Healing Arts Trust
About Waterford Healing Arts Trust
Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) is Ireland’s leading arts and health organisation. Established in 1993, WHAT brings arts experiences to the bedsides of patients at University Hospital Waterford and other healthcare settings. WHAT believes that the arts contribute to the wellbeing and vitality of society and that engaging with the arts stimulates the participant’s sense of identity and creativity. WHAT also supports the development of arts and health in Ireland and manages the national website www.artsandhealth.ie
Further details are available from www.waterfordhealingarts.com
