ABSTRACT
Drawing on rich languages of sensory engagement in the visual and tactual arts across both medical student and patient communities, this chapter proposes an alternative version of well-being where participatory manifestations of embodiment shape thinking and reveal joint insights around what it is to be human. A collaborative clinical and academic case-study is now presented with a particular focus on how we may build upon new readings of the complexity of embodiment. The integrative potential of the arts in terms of cognitive and sensory processing and also enhancing patients' well-being is scrutinized in this regard. The commitment to arts interventions as potential sites of positive identity re-construction and well-being was also championed by the research team from the outset – giving rise to art workshops for stroke clinicians and academics before the research began and open studio events across the trial.
