Social engagement

For most of my professional life I have been exploring the arts and social isolation, so I am delighted to be writing the ‘Last Word’ for this particular issue. Having read the material, I would like to challenge the current inclusion policy in mainstream arts as the wrong approach.

I am responding mainly to Toby Lowe’s feature on the approach Helix Arts has to working with socially isolated and marginalised people (p13). His article presents a clear and positive account of how his organisation takes this area of work forward. In my experience, it is often the case that social isolation stems from deep seated emotional problems. The benefits to be gained through participation in the arts are invaluable; my concerns are more with their lasting effects, which, as I see it, can only take place through a long-term engagement with the arts. The time needed for an individual to become more engaged in social activity is largely down to their personal circumstances, and therefore artistic programmes need to be individually tailored. This is the value of the therapeutic arts studio. In this setting, therapy is made ordinary within everyday social discourse and not seen as clinical treatment. I wish to emphasise that this approach is not art therapy; in this working environment personal development is as important as artistic integrity. It is impossible to disentangle one from the other and neither can come to fruition in the short term.

Participation in creative arts is, without doubt, an effective vehicle for moving individuals from isolation to relation, a process where the unconscious is expressed in the artwork and seen by others in both the studio and public gallery. As Director of Studio Upstairs, my main concerns are how best to dismantle notions of mental illness and move away from paradigms of treatment. In the realms of art, a fundamental question that needs to be addressed is: does psychosis really exist? I use the term ‘psychosis’ as it is a frequently used diagnosis for those who are experiencing isolation. The creative arts and human ‘madness’ have always existed at the very edges of society, and indeed it is within these margins that they thrive. They are intrinsic to culture and when the work then appears in the public domain, I believe strongly it is society’s task to make sense of it.

This begins to touch on Ruth Stevenson and Hannah Biggs’ feature (p14) and their research into making the arts more accessible to those with mental health problems. My proposal, however, is to look at this from the opposite direction; how do those with so-called mental health problems develop their own artistic endeavours, and when shown in the public arena how does the work then mirror the health of society?