Perspectives
This section presents opinion on aspects of arts and health practice from a range of perspectives including health service users, artists, healthcare professionals and researchers.
Finding my ‘guth’: The Lump vs the Irish Language
Irish surgeon Dr Denis Burkitt discovered Burkitt's lymphoma. Belfast filmmaker Éanna Mac Cana was treated for this cancer when he was 19 years old. His unique documentary feature film, Burkitt, combines his personal experiences as an inpatient with an exploration of the life and work of Dr Burkitt. Éanna discusses how he began re-learning the Irish language while making Burkitt and how finding his ‘guth’ (voice) created an environment for healing.
2 September, 2024
Strange Gifts: Community and Connection in Illness and Performance
When theatre maker Jenny Macdonald was recovering from breast cancer, she began creating a play inspired by that experience. Exploring the dynamics of caring and being cared for, The Tightrope Walker is a solo performance that seeks to hold a space for the audience the way that a facilitator does, a two-way exchange where the isolation of illness is interwoven with the deep connection of community.
8 July, 2024
The Stepping Stones Project: Moving with care through uncertainty
For young people who have experienced trauma, nurturing a safe space for creativity to unfold requires particular care and sensitivity. Art therapist Claire Flahavan and artist Emma Finucane brought their specific areas of expertise, and mutually supportive ways of working, to the Stepping Stones project at The Alders Unit, a therapeutic service for children and adolescents affected by sexual abuse. Claire reflects on their collaboration with young service users to create permanent artworks for the Unit’s new home at CHI-Tallaght.
6 February, 2024
HESITANT LIGHT
Joe Vaněk reflects on the aftermath of his stroke, which curtailed a career designing for theatre, opera and dance that has spanned four decades. An opportunity to write about his experiences for the Irish Heart Foundation marked his tentative return to the artistic fold. Here, he discusses the rekindling of his creative spirit as a writer and artist in a post-stroke world.
13 November, 2023
‘In life the song is a very important thing’ Museum of Song: Ireland and Ukraine
The Museum of Song is a song collecting project, co-created by artists Tess Leak and Sharon Whooley. New members of the West Cork community from Ukraine were invited to take part in 2022. Tetyana Karpenko and Olha Baglaenko of the Chervona Kalyna choir, supported by interpreter and choir member Ivan Humenuik, reflect on their experiences of sharing culture and kinship through song.
1 September, 2023
Memento Vivere
Navin Hyder reflects on her three-year artist residency at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin, where she created a large body of work in the hospital’s operating theatres. Hyder details the evolving nature of the residency, new terrain for both artist and hospital staff, and how personal connections with families impacted by cancer shaped its outcomes.
6 June, 2023
Nothing for us without us: Pavee Point’s creative approach to Traveller men’s health
Patrick Reilly and Michael Collins from Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre discuss the health inequalities that Travellers face, the work of the Men’s Health Team, and the Traveller-led creative initiatives that are giving visibility to Traveller men’s experiences.
1 March, 2023
Wellbeing and the Museum: Inclusive art programming in a changing world
Providing inclusive art experiences for older people within and outside of the museum walls is integral to the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s Engagement & Learning Programme. Helen O’Donoghue and Bairbre-Ann Harkin reflect on the development of remotely accessible art programmes for older audiences during the pandemic and spearheading initiatives that speak to people’s needs in a changing world.
21 June, 2022
OURSELVES: A Nurse Poet Bears Witness
Most of the poems from my first collection of poetry, OURSELVES, come from vivid memories of my first years in nurse training: the shock and drama of illness; the strengths and weaknesses of those I worked alongside, and bearing witness to the vulnerabilities and suffering of patients.
1 March, 2022
A view from within: An Arts in Health project for hospital staff during Covid-19
Claire Flahavan works as an art therapist in St Louise’s Unit at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) Crumlin. Claire reflects on her experience of Sidestep, an Arts in Health project for staff within the Unit at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
1 September, 2021
Teen Spirit: Music adventures in the lockdown era
Davina Flaherty is a singer-songwriter and musician from Galway. A member of CanTeen Ireland, the national young people’s cancer support group, Davina has been taking part in an online music project since summer 2020 led by musicians Seán Carpio and Ríona Sally Hartman.
8 July, 2021
Time to Unite and Take Action: Managing an Arts and Health Programme during COVID-19
Diary entry 20th March 2020: ‘So much change around the world – every day, every minute’.
2 March, 2021
