Body mapping was one of the first creative practices used within the research. Co-researchers worked with life-sized outlines of their bodies, using drawing, colour, words and other materials to explore experiences and influences that had shaped their understandings of trauma and recovery.

Rather than beginning with a requirement to explain these experiences through conversation alone, body mapping offered different ways of noticing, expressing and making sense of what could be difficult to put into words.

 

The body became more than an outline to be filled: bodily experience, creative materials, memories, ideas and feelings came together through the process of making. This reflected the wider research approach, which understood knowledge as something that can be embodied, affective and material, as well as spoken or written. The thesis later describes creative practices such as body mapping as producing knowledge that is “affective, situated, and performative” and capable of bringing forward aspects of trauma and recovery that might be overlooked through talk alone.

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The maps also helped open up the next stages of the research. When co-researchers came together to explore what had appeared across them, shared areas of interest began to emerge. These conversations contributed to the development of the three themes explored more deeply through later creative workshops: Inner Child, Time and Keys.

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Some co-researchers chose to share their body maps publicly as part of the Project Becomings exhibition. Displayed together in a separate, enclosed area of the exhibition, the maps created a collective encounter while retaining the individuality of each person's work. Participation in the exhibition remained a choice; not every co-researcher chose to exhibit their body map.

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There is no single way to read these maps. Take some time with what you notice.