Louise Ashmore

Project title: Getting the language right for healing: A scoping review of cultural adaptations in Art-based therapy with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia.

Louise Ashmore is a linguist with a background in visual arts currently working in Far North Queensland. Undertaking the Masters of Mental Health (Art Therapy) program involves reflection on multiple factors including the student's art practice. The process of developing an exhibition from personal response art and art therapy processes can be challenging for artists with an established art practice. The resulting works may be significantly different in style, materials, and in the way they are produced, focussing on the process and reflective opportunities rather than the final image or object. In turn, art therapy can inform personal art practice, leading to new forms of communication and creative expression.

The artworks included in this exhibition explore the process of collaborative research from the perspective of an art therapy student navigating research as part of her existing professional role as a linguist in a remote community context. The work explores the development of a community-led research project about how art-making can support cross-cultural communication of emotions and concepts of health for First Nations language communities in culturally safe trauma-informed practice. The first stage of research considers diverse approaches to place-based and culturally responsive art therapy within the Australian context.

The artworks reflect on the cultural and linguistic environments surrounding the project art-making and broader research process. The series of small sketches, using a travel palette of gouache paint, were produced on country on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, Far North Queensland, and are presented here with permission from Traditional Owners of the area.