{"id":2562,"date":"2020-01-21T12:48:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T12:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/?p=2562"},"modified":"2020-01-21T12:55:13","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T12:55:13","slug":"sww-dtp-pgr-catherine-cartwright-exeter-uwe-bristol-talks-about-embarking-on-her-research-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/sww-dtp-pgr-catherine-cartwright-exeter-uwe-bristol-talks-about-embarking-on-her-research-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"SWW DTP PGR Catherine Cartwright (Exeter\/UWE Bristol) talks about embarking on her research journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am a visual artist and this autumn [2019] I became a PhD student.\u00a0 In this blog I share my initial experiences and gently encourage you to consider whether formal Research (with a big \u2018R\u2019) could take a bigger part in your life and practice. I\u2019ll be covering the similarities between artist practice and research practice, the \u2018elephant in the room\u2019 that is funding, how I developed my research question and its potential benefits.
\nResearch practice and artist practice are practically family<\/strong><\/p>\n

Research practice and artist practice are practically family. There are certain crossovers and shared characteristics such as, similar thinking processes, research determining the methodologies and, of course, practice-led PhDs where the artwork embodies the thesis.<\/p>\n

There is a creativity in the thinking processes of research which may not be at first apparent. The thinking processes involved in making art have been likened to those involved in research, \u2018higher level thinking demands connections, associations, linkages of conscious and unconscious elements, memory and emotion, past, present and future merging in the processes of making meaning\u2019. (Sullivan 2009 cited in Kara 2015).<\/p>\n

When making, I want to ensure that the materials and processes I use enhance the message of the work. Kara says that when choosing or creating your research method(s), that they must \u2018flow from your research question, not the other way around\u2019 (Kara 2015). Interestingly this implies there could be as many variations of methodologies as there are research questions!<\/p>\n

And lastly, the artwork as thesis, and the reassurance that artists as researchers are not an anomaly, \u2018there is increasing acceptance of the idea that artists can conduct research in the process of producing art, and that the resulting artwork can be a valid research output in itself by embodying and communicating the knowledge produced in its creation\u2019 (Biggs 2009, cited in Kara 2015)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The \u2018Elephant in the Room\u2019 \u2013 funding<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not leave the elephant in the room until the end. How can I afford to do this?<\/p>\n

I have been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWW DTP). They give me a \u2018stipend\u2019 (in other words, a wage) and pay the fees. The SWW DTP is one of several in the country. These partnerships consist of a network of regional universities. Applicants to the programme apply for interdisciplinary research that will make the very best use of the resources at two universities in the consortium. The programme aims to fund a new generation of outward-looking and public-engaging researchers. The antithesis of the ivory tower. I can\u2019t tell you what to apply for, but I would like to use this chance to introduce my research.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Research as \u2018me\u2019search<\/strong><\/p>\n

Research as \u2018me\u2019search acknowledges that we are often centrally located in our research, that our motivations are personal, even if the research itself is situated within a wider socio-political landscape.<\/p>\n

One of the hardest things can be knowing what question you want to ask. My area came from my current focus, or so I thought. Looking back over the past 20 years of working variously as project coordinator, printmaking tutor and practising artist, I can see that both my passions as well as the current challenging times have come together to motivate my current research.<\/p>\n

Let me briefly outline my research.<\/p>\n

As an artist I want to be relevant to my communities and this has resulted in a career of outreach art projects and socio-political artwork. I am interested in ethics and in process. I want to know more about how artists work with people, and specifically, how we respond to, and work best with, people affected by trauma.<\/p>\n

In my research I will be co-producing portraiture with women impacted by abuse and examining their experiences of the process. Traditionally the \u2018sitter\u2019 in portraiture has been passive \u2013 passive to the artist and to the viewer. How can I alter this so that the \u2018sitter\u2019 is assertive, both in the making and viewing? I am partnering with Devon Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Services and together we will be ensuring that this is a safe process, where our duty of care is paramount. Through my research I plan to outline what \u2018trauma-informed\u2019 working practice looks like and I will be keen to see where my research can benefit the participatory visual arts sector.<\/p>\n

There is a shift happening in public health and frontline services to become \u2018trauma-informed\u2019. This means understanding people\u2019s behaviour as a result of trauma they have suffered. I have come across little dialogue about trauma-informed practice in the visual arts sector specifically (it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not happening at a local or regional level, but if it is, it\u2019s not reverberating outwards) so I want to initiate more discussion about our duty of care to people affected by trauma and what best practice looks like. The ArtWorks Alliance blog last year from the Bartol Foundation<\/a> raises some interesting thoughts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anticipating the benefits\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Doubtless this intense period of reading, thinking, writing and making will have many benefits. I can\u2019t pinpoint them yet but the experience of becoming an expert in my own field of research will, I hope, lead to alternative employment opportunities. Doing a PhD doesn\u2019t necessarily mean launching into academia, lecturing and the like, it might be starting a new business, or continuing with a more meaningful artist practice.<\/p>\n

Wider benefits to my sector will include building a conversation about what it means to work in a trauma-informed way, to talk about the ethics of process, and to find out what\u2019s already happening in best practice. All this leads to a further professionalisation of the sector underpinning our validity in wider society. In turn this brings funding for the opportunity for further participatory arts practice, which ultimately benefits the people in our communities.
\nThis blog was originally published on the Artworks Alliance website: https:\/\/www.artworksalliance.org.uk\/why-do-research\/<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I am a visual artist and this autumn [2019] I became a PhD student.\u00a0 In this blog I share my initial experiences and gently encourage you to consider whether formal Research (with a big \u2018R\u2019) could take a bigger part in your life and practice. I\u2019ll be covering the similarities between artist practice and research…","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}