Project
Becomings
engage · learn · reimagine · grow
Reimagining recovery narratives following adversity
Drawing And Painting
Exploring recovery through image, colour and visual expression
In Project Becomings
Drawing and painting were used across Project Becomings as accessible ways of exploring and communicating experiences of trauma and recovery through visual expression.
Drawing was particularly used within the Keys workshop, where co-researchers explored what might open or unlock possibilities for recovery — including people, practices, memories and material objects — as well as the barriers, closures and transitions that could constrain those possibilities.
Rather than requiring a particular artistic outcome, co-researchers were encouraged to respond to the materials and themes in ways that felt meaningful to them. Their initial ideas could change as they worked, with no expectation that the finished piece needed to match what they had originally imagined.
Painting also became part of this ongoing process. An additional creative session was introduced so that co-researchers could return to and paint previously created pieces, develop their reflections and prepare work for the public exhibition.
About The Method
Drawing and painting are visual creative methods that use line, shape, colour, texture and image to explore and communicate ideas and experiences. They can range from recognisable images to abstract marks, patterns, symbols or combinations of words and pictures.
The process does not require participants to know in advance what they want to communicate. Images and meanings can develop through doing — adding, removing, layering, changing colours or responding to what has already appeared on the page or surface.
Within research, attention can therefore be given not only to the finished artwork, but to the process of making: the choices, sensations, memories, conversations and unexpected connections that emerge while someone creates.
This fits particularly well with how you actually ran the workshops: co-researchers were explicitly told that their final creations could differ from their initial ideas and that there was no expected outcome.
Why Use Drawing And Painting In Trauma And Recovery Research?
Trauma and recovery can involve experiences that are difficult to organise into a clear verbal narrative. Drawing and painting offer ways to explore these experiences through images, colour, symbols and metaphor, allowing ideas to remain complex, ambiguous or unfinished.
Visual making can also create space for experimentation. A mark can be changed, an image developed, colours layered or an unexpected element incorporated as the work unfolds. This can allow understanding to emerge through the process rather than requiring participants to know what something means before they begin.
Within Project Becomings, this openness was particularly important. Creative methods were used not simply to illustrate existing ideas about recovery, but to create different conditions for thinking, feeling and making sense through doing. Co-researchers were encouraged to follow emerging curiosities and were explicitly told there was no expected artistic outcome.
Drawing also provided a way of exploring “Keys” — the people, practices, memories and material things that could open possibilities for recovery, alongside the barriers, closures and transitions that could restrict them.
What Did Clay And Casting Make Possible?
Drawing and painting created space for recovery to be explored through images, colour, symbols and visual metaphor, rather than relying solely on verbal explanation.
Within Project Becomings, drawing was used particularly in exploring the theme of Keys. This opened conversations about the many different influences that might enable or constrain recovery — including people, practices, memories and material objects — as well as barriers, closures and transitions.
Importantly, making did not require co-researchers to begin with a fixed idea or arrive at a predetermined outcome. They could respond to what emerged as they worked, allowing initial ideas to change and different connections to become noticeable through the creative process.
The drawings later moved into the public exhibition, where visitors were also invited to create and contribute their own work. This extended visual making beyond individual expression, creating opportunities for visitors to think through doing and contribute to the ongoing construction of recovery knowledge.
