The Potential of Painting: Unlocking Disenfranchised Grief for People Living With Dementia

Abstract

As part of the Creative Well program at a local health board, one of the authors qualitatively investigated how painting can access a means of communication for people living with dementia. In a workshop setting within a gallery environment, participants living with dementia were facilitated on a one-to-one basis the opportunity to paint alongside the researcher. During the workshops, a number of experiences were articulated. These included experiences of illness, crisis, and loss. They were captured through observations, interviews, visual art, and video to contribute to new understandings and models of engagement through art for people living with dementia and their carers. Focusing on theory and practice in arts-based research and the social sciences, this article investigates the potential of painting to unlock experiences such as disenfranchised grief for people living with dementia. The conclusions of this article do not measure how and if participants felt disenfranchised grief but rather provide an alternative to augment the body of knowledge surrounding how people living with dementia can communicate feelings of disenfranchised grief through painting.

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