Exploring the links between personal grief narratives in art and contemporary bereavement theories

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At some point in our lives we will all experience a bereavement. This project will apply contemporarybereavement theories to a fine art context. The primary focus is how these theories can be used toanalyse and explain bereavement as represented in artworks undertaken through a non-therapeuticcontext within the artist's studio and not through art therapy. I will carry out a practice-basedinterdisciplinary study using sociological bereavement theories and contemporary art concepts ofnarrative, memory and the self, exploring how artists depict personal grief narratives through their artpractice. This project will examine how art practice can communicate loss, while helping to renegotiatethe connections we have with deceased loved ones.Interviews with artists who are working with bereavement narratives will form a core part of the research.Critical components will be undertaken to help with understanding and establishing links between artisticcontexts and bereavement theories, and will include analyses of artworks concerning bereavementproduced both by other artists and as part of this research. The project will also explore how artworksmade in non-therapeutic settings can aid artists with the management of personal grief through theirpractice and whether or not this changes art practice.I developed interests in drawing links between the arts and mental health issues during my BA in Textiles,particularly in my final year where I explored links between cabinets of curiosities and obsessive-compulsive disorders. During my MA I studied bereavement theory and its application within fine art,researching potential links between repetition and handwriting as a key practice-based method.My MA has prepared me for undertaking a PhD and as part of the course I completed modules inResearch Methods (81%), Critical Positions (76%) and Project Design (73%) which taught me how to plana research project. I also completed a Major Project module (75%) which required me to present afinished piece of practice work for exhibition and a thesis. Towards the end of my MA, I was offered theopportunity for my MA dissertation to be published.After completing my MA, I used these skills to continue my independent research and art practice. I tookpart in a 6-week residency (2018) in Berlin with the Centre for Substructured Loss creating artworkdealing with grief research. The residency culminated in a group exhibition ('The Immaterial Weight LeftBehind'), and I continue to have strong connections with the Centre and my residency peers.