The Big Anxiety Project: Body Mapping workshop

https://sydneyscience.com.au/event/body-mapping-big-anxiety-project/

FREE, RSVP essential: k.boydell@unsw.edu.au
 

Body Mapping involves the creation of life-sized human body images created through drawing, painting or other techniques as a method for representing aspects of people’s lives, their bodies and their world. Body mapping is a way of telling stories, much like totems that contain symbols with different meanings, but whose significance can only be understood in relation to the creator’s overall story and experience.

Faciliated by Dr Patricia Morgan, with Dr George Khut (UNSW Art & Design) and Dr Katherine Boydell (Blackdog Institute), the Body Mapping workshop is a free National Science Week event open to all. Participants would be interested in a range of perspectives on health as recipients and providers of health care as well as researchers.

During the workshop participants will be making and reflecting on a collection of body maps to describe experiences of anxiety and health. We are interested in body-mapping as a way of accessing and facilitating narratives around experiences of health and embodiment, and conversations between people with different  sets of expertise and experience i.e. clinicians, researchers, patients, carers, survivors etc. Along with the creation and discussion of individual body maps – the workshop will include a series of facilitated discussions reflecting on the use of body mapping processes in health care, health research, and research engagement.

This workshop is part of a series of events being conducted by the Black Dog Institute and UNSW Art & Design,  in preparation for Anxiety 2017, a new arts festival initiated by the National Institute for Experimental Arts (NIEA) UNSW, that aims to foster interdisciplinary collaborations to address mental health challenges.

About the event hosts

Dr Katherine Boydell is a Professor of Mental Health at The Black Dog Institute, UNSW. Her research explores the intersection of art and science in the creation and dissemination of mental health research including documentary film, dance, digital storytelling, found poetry, installation art and body mapping. She has published 150 articles and her most recent is a review of the use of body mapping in research. 

Dr Patricia Morgan  is currently a Research Associate on the ‘Heart of Health’ project with the Sydney & South Western Sydney Local Health Districts, researching the impacts of meditation courses for nurses in a number of hospitals in Sydney.  Before taking up this position she was a postdoctoral fellow conjointly with UNSW and Canberra University researching the impacts of connectivity through ICT.  She has facilitated a range of workshops on contemplative inquiry, most recently a workshop on contemplative mathematics at the Embodied Research Lab, UC Berkeley, USA.

Dr George Khut is an artist and academic at UNSW Art & Design working across the fields of participatory art, health and interactive technology. Recent projects include the The Heart Library Project at St. Vincent’s Public Hospital; the BrightHearts research project with Dr Angie Morrow at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, and Behind Your Eyes, Between Your Ears, project exploring brainwave-based contemplative interactions at Performance Space, and the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.

This project has been supported by the Black Dog Institute, UNSW Australia, and the Australian Government through Inspiring Australia, the national strategy for promoting engagement with the sciences.

First held in 1997, National Science Week has become one of Australia’s largest festivals. Last year saw a staggering 1.3 million people participate in over 1,500 events and activities. In 2016, National Science Week events will be held right throughout Australia—from astronomy at Uluru to a science film night in the Antarctic—with everything from science festivals, music and comedy shows, expert panel discussions, interactive hands-on displays, open days and online activities.

The festival is proudly supported by the Australian Government; partners CSIRO, the Australian Science Teachers Association and the ABC; and sponsors Cosmos, Discovery Science, NewScientist and Popular Science. 

National Science Week 2016 will run from 13-21 August. Event details can be found at www.scienceweek.net.au.