ABSTRACT
This chapter will discuss the role of reflection in practice in four interdisciplinary arts collaborations in medical contexts involving artists, clinicians, carers, and patients and resulting in high profile public presentations. It is written by a biomedical research scientist, an artist, and a producer who were central to the projects described. The chapter examines how reflection is employed in different ways by different players at four stages of project evolution:
Project conception (how to initiate and resource artistic collaboration in sensitive medical settings).
Arts engagement (creative engagement with patients and clinicians in workshops and conversations at the hospital bedside).
Re-presentation (translation of images, metaphors and material from the engagement processes into material for public presentation).
Presentation to the public (sharing the artistic work, inviting further reflection on others’ lived experiences).
The case studies are positioned within participatory arts practice and the chapter draws out key principles which underpin a reflective practice approach to arts engagement. By articulating these principles, readers will be better equipped to advocate for cultures of reflection as central to creative collaborations on ethical as well as practical grounds. It is hoped that the authors’ experience of reflective practice in grass-roots project conception and delivery can offer practical suggestions to inform future practitioners working in arts and health. To this end, the chapter explores how creative processes can present the human narrative alongside medical science, acknowledging the emotions as well as the clinical facts. Theories of ‘situated learning’, or learning embedded in social processes and physical contexts, and understanding gained through experience and participation in activities in relationships with others can be applied to much of this work.