International Health Humanities Network Membership

Sometimes I paint pictures to explain stories; sometimes I tell stories to explain pictures.

As a visual artist I have undertaken a range of projects that engage art as a potential for social and community change. My work is at the nexus art and health, bringing insight to issues that impact public mental health, child and youth development, socio-cultural action. I am employed at QUT’s Children and Youth Research Centre, in a research capacity. Prior to undertaking my doctoral study I worker as an Artist in Residence with Queensland Health Northside District Mental Health Services (2000-2007) I generated many creative outputs that underpin my research agenda and provided a practical foundation to my doctoral study. Creative outputs include the production of exhibitions, performances and events aimed to raise awareness of issues related to mental illness and recovery. These also engaged constructive critiques and a synthesis of arts in health practice. Through collaborative creative method I engaged people with experience of mental illness in the design, production and presentation of the artworks such as Biometriod Man and the Angry Centaur (2007) and Portrait of Health (2007). I was the employed as an artist to develop The Ripple Effect (2009), a consumer collaborative art project developed under the auspice of the Mental Health Alliance. This project received the Arts and Mental Health Australia Award at the International Arts and Mental Health Conference in 2010.