Psychosocial aesthetics and the art of lived experience. (1st July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bennett, Jill; Froggett, Lynn; Muller, Lizzie
• Is Part Of: Journal of psycho-social studies. Volume 12:Number 1(2019)
• Page Start: 185
• Page End: 201
• Publication Date: 2019-07-01
• Subjects: aesthetics -- psychosocial -- affordances -- facilitating environment -- lived experience; Social sciences and psychoanalysis -- Periodicals; Psychology -- Periodicals; Psychohistory -- Periodicals; Social interaction -- Periodicals; Politics, Practical -- Periodicals; 302.5
• DOI: 10.1332/147867319X15608718111023
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1478-6737

Abstract

Abstract : This article identifies the distinctive nature of arts-based psychosocial enquiry and practice in a public mental health context, focusing on two projects delivered as part of The Big Anxiety festival, in Sydney, Australia in 2017: 'Awkward Conversations', in which one-to-one conversations about anxiety and mental health were offered in experimental aesthetic formats; and 'Parragirls Past, Present', a reparative project, culminating in an immersive film production that explored the enduring effects of institutional abuse and trauma and the ways in which traumatic experiences can be refigured to transform their emotional resonance and meaning. Bringing an arts-based enquiry into lived experience into dialogue with psychosocial theory, this article examines the transformative potential of aesthetic transactions and facilitating environments, specifically with regard to understanding the imbrication of lived experience and social settings.