Exploring Trauma-informed Community Arts and Research Methodology through the medium of Collage

Abstract

This thesis is located at the intersection of geographies of trauma and cultural geography and seeks to understand how community artists can work safely with participants living with the impacts of trauma, with particular reference to the role of collage in supporting this methodology. Through the thesis I argue that understanding the causes and impacts of trauma, particularly trauma perpetuated by socio-political conditions, is an ethical responsibility for researchers and, in this context, for those working in community arts (Pain 2021). Central to the research project has been the medium of collage; examining how and where collage supports trauma-informed practices, and so addresses the lack of focused engagement with collage in cultural geography.

The research in this thesis draws on two phases of interviews with community artists, as well as interviews with survivor-victims of gender-based violence about the six week art-collage project they attended. These were run by myself as an experienced community art practitioner, in partnership with Devon Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Services. The research examined how collage can be utilised as a trauma-informed method and in doing so, highlighted its material agency and its accessibility as an arts-based method for both researchers and community artists. Through working with a sensitivity to trauma-informed research methods, this thesis contributes to trauma-informed geographies and offers a perspective on how to create ethical research environments that support the well-being and safety for both researcher(s) and participants, The research has expanded the geographical concept of the therapeutic taskscape (Dunkley 2009, Smith 2019), furthering the definition of the community artist by drawing attention to their expert relational character. Beyond academia, I offer a reflective resource to the community arts sector in the form of a short animated film and four provocations on trauma-informed community arts.