Canvassing the emotions : women, creativity and mental health in context

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Northfield, Sally (2014) Canvassing the emotions : women, creativity and mental health in context. PhD thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

Canvassing the emotions examines the role and meaning of artmaking in the lives of women who have experienced mental ill-health and/or psychological trauma in Australia between the 1950s and the present. Hovering at the nexus of a number of contested domains, the thesis bypasses the perennial question of what is art to explore the neglected and perhaps more interesting query – what does art do for the artmaker? – and associated questions of why does art matter; what is the function of artmaking in relation to wellbeing; and what are the implications of a thwarted life of making? The thesis presents the findings of three studies: The Exhibition – a touring exhibition of art produced by women with an experience of mental ill-health; The Interviews – with thirty-two women who make art and who have experienced mental ill-health; and The Collage – a collation of women’s accounts of – what does art do?

Item type Thesis (PhD thesis)
URI https://vuir.vu.edu.au/id/eprint/29985
Subjects Historical > FOR Classification > 1701 Psychology
Historical > FOR Classification > 1905 Visual Arts and Crafts
Historical > FOR Classification > 2002 Cultural Studies
Historical > Faculty/School/Research Centre/Department > College of Arts
Keywords artmaking, women, creativity, mental health, artists, feminism, diffraction, epistemology, ontology, art exhibitions, mental ill-health, mentally ill, Australia, 20th century, materialism, mind and body, art therapy
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