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.
Lines of Escape
Visual artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly discuss the inspiration behind their artwork Run River Run for the new 75 bed ward at University Hospital Galway and how the initial challenges of a collaborative approach to creating public artworks led to rewarding avenues of exploration.
1 June, 2017
Whose Move? Body Politics and Health Equality: Positioning Arts Practice in Contested Territories
When engaging with marginalized experiences and excluded constituents, artists sometimes find themselves outside the current framework of arts and health practice.
1 March, 2017
The Value of Collaboration: Reflections on the implementation of the Per Cent for Art Scheme in a community nursing unit
As the Director of Nursing of a HSE community nursing unit for older people, I believe that residents should be able to live their lives to the full with opportunities for personal development and enrichment through connections to the wider community.
1 December, 2016
Opening the Box
Poet Paula Meehan reflects on a time of healing in her life when the excitement and mystery of art transcended the daily process of craft.
4 October, 2016
In Writing: finding a way through illness
Writer Lia Mills tells us how the notebooks she kept as a cancer patient helped her retain a sense of self during her treatment and led to a positive shift in her relationship with her artform.
1 September, 2016
A quiet megaphone for your knowledge: an artist’s approach to person-centred arts participation in healthcare
Addressing the imagined participants of an Arts and Health workshop, Marielle MacLeman draws from her experiences of working as an artist in palliative and chronic healthcare settings to reflect upon the values that underpin her responsive approach to person-centred arts participation.
1 June, 2016
Both Sides of the Coin: The Distinctive Value of Art in Health Care
François Matarasso calls for an acceptance of the differences between arts and science when assessing arts and health practice.
1 March, 2016
Dante or the DSM*? Art and the re-imagining of ‘mental health’
Dylan Tighe is a musician, performer and theatre-maker with experience of mental distress and treatment who calls upon mental healthcare and society at large to look beyond the medical model to art and artists for a deeper understanding of existential pain and distress.
1 December, 2015
Mental Health, Recovery and the Role of the Creative Arts
Psychiatrist Dr Pat Bracken reflects on the paradigm shift towards the recovery approach in mental healthcare and the central role of the creative arts in this.
1 September, 2015
A Love-Filled Slap: A Manifesto for Arts and Health
Director of Arts for Health at Manchester Metropolitan University, Clive Parkinson describes the political thinking that led to and is embodied in the UK’s first Manifesto for Arts and Health.
1 June, 2015
Working with stories of other people’s traumatic experiences: Questions of responsibility as an artist
I sometimes make artworks dealing with other people’s personal and traumatic experiences, including mental and physical ill-health, and various human rights abuses, often through direct engagement or collaboration with them.
1 March, 2015
Grey Matters: The role of the Arts and Health in the delivery of ‘Healthy Ireland’
In light of the publication of ‘Healthy Ireland', Senior Health Promotion Officer Caroline Peppard calls for a recognition of the role of the arts in developing a culture of healthcare that goes beyond the scientific and considers all the determinants of health.
1 December, 2014
