Material Language: Reflections on an arts and health practice by Ciara Harrison

Arts and health practice often involves engaging with people who are far from home and familiar spaces: encounters by the hospital bedside, in a communal room with others we have never have met, or increasingly in the virtual realm where we try to read each other across a screen of faces. How does an artist create a sense of space and place, of warmth and trust, in unfamiliar territory? How might objects and materials foster a sense of intimacy and connection? These lines of inquiry shape Ciara Harrison’s reflection on her participatory practice, funded by the artsandhealth.ie 2021 artist bursary.