‘I is an other’ : encountering the self as other in expressive arts practice

Thurston, SD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5326-593X 2019, ‘I is an other’ : encountering the self as other in expressive arts practice , in: 2nd International Arts in Healthcare Event - Arts, Creativity and the Global Crisis: Reimagining Identity, Otherness and the Possible, 3rd-6th October 2019, Pratt Institute, New York, United States of America. (Unpublished)

Preview	PDF (Conference paper) - Presentation Download (216kB) | Preview
	Microsoft Word (Conference paper) - Presentation Restricted to Repository staff only Download (28kB)

Abstract

This paper was delivered at the 2nd International Arts in Healthcare Event – Arts, Creativity and the Global Crisis: Reimagining Identity, Otherness and the Possible, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, 4th-6th October 2019 In 1871, the poet Arthur Rimbaud declared in a letter ‘je est une autre’ [I is an other] – an articulation which has resonated in literary history ever since. The materiality of art allows one to encounter oneself as other, and this distance enables perspective, insight and understanding. I want to approach the central questions of the conference from the point of view of a poet moving into interdisciplinary artistic practice as a dancer, and also involved in projects relating to the role of expressive arts in therapy. What is gained in the transition from one art form to another? How is otherness re-encountered, re-exposed, to be made available for critical and personal reflection? Some of these questions have been made possible by my reading of Daniel Stern’s notion of vitality dynamics, but Carrie Noland’s critical poetics of gesture has also been useful for developing a dialectical understanding of the relationship between the textual and the embodied self. I want to trace this journey through poetry, dance, theory and practice to propose a vision for art and the artist’s role in culture which sees no divergence between wellbeing and cultural practice, and which cultivates radical empathy through a committed practice to encountering otherness through creative work.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Schools:	Schools > School of Arts & Media > Arts, Media and Communication Research Centre
Journal or Publication Title:	2nd International Arts in Healthcare Event - Arts, Creativity and the Global Crisis: Reimagining Identity, Otherness and the Possible
Depositing User:	Dr Scott Thurston
Date Deposited:	19 Mar 2021 10:35
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2022 06:54
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/59879

Actions (login required)

Edit record (repository staff only)