Abstract
This research offers analysis and findings from a series of socially engaged art practices implemented by The International Center for Wound Repair and Regeneration in Taiwan to enhance mental health and well-being and promote the social inclusion of patients of a rare hereditary disease: the 'Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).' The EB patients often suffer from frequent formations of blisters on their body and skin. Such blisters form from low mechanical stress on the skin, and mucous membranes can trigger mental and health disorders, leading to the patients' lifelong needs for caring as well as social alienation. In 2020 the Center launched artist-in-residence schemes in the medical school and invited artist Hsu Jo-Chun (b. 1991) who is also an EB patient, to conduct an education program that brought the artist to visit different EB patients and co-create visual artworks that genuinely express each patient's aspiration and feelings. At the end of the program, the artist also curated an exhibition in the open space of a university hospital entitled' The Pain Will Fly Away,' which presented the works of herself and participants together, telling the stories of the community that experienced such a rare disease. In the following years, the artist and the Center continuously collaborated on socially engaged art projects in the public sphere. This action-research will discuss the process and findings of this long-term project, which aims to empower EB patients through artistic activities and increase the public's understanding of EB patients through workshops, exhibitions, and education to create a platform for the caring of collective individuals and advocacy of social inclusion.
Author Information
Wei Hsiu Tung, National University of Tainan, Taiwan
Paper Information
Conference: KAMC2023
Stream: Arts Practices
This paper is part of the KAMC2023 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Tung W. (2023) Socially Engaged Art Practice for Mental Caring and Social Inclusion: The Case Study of the International Center for Wound Repair and Regeneration, Taiwan ISSN: 2436-0503 – The Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture 2023: Official Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2436-0503.2023.54
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2436-0503.2023.54
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