SCRIPT FOR PRESENTATION,

10th May
The motive for a residency within Psychology began with my profound curiosity of the
mind, dreams, mental health and the unconscious. From the off-set I was extremely
excited to venture over to Falmer to take part in the module: Psychology: mental health
and distress, which seemed perfect to me, where Dr. Matthew Adams, chartered
psychologist, principal lecturer on the course and module coordinator of Mental Health
and Distress, oversaw my placement and was primary faculty contact for the host subject
for the full 10 weeks.
The first thing I did was have an initial meeting with Matt where we recurrently discussed
starting points, I aimed to begin my research by engaging as if I was a student on the
module by investigating and questioning the relationship and difference between
psychiatric classifications of emotions, and psychological approaches to defining human
experiences of emotions. Over the course of the placement, Matt and I built a strong
relationship and met frequently to discuss ideas concerning the content of the course
which to quote Barbara Stevini, created the greatest circumstance that best facilitated
discovery the transfer of skills and the necessary conditions [for] an optimum form of
creative liaison (Steveni 1983)
In the first few weeks, I actively engaged with students in the 1 hour seminars and
offered my opinions and original outlook towards subjects discussed, I completed the
readings and supplementary work to enhance my understandings and the knowledge I
gained through this and the 2/3 hour lectures, inspired me and changed many views I
had previously developed towards mental health. The knowledge I gained also led me to
realising the growing underlying theme that would follow me on my journey:
The lectures convinced me how important it is to use terminology that doesnt come with
complicated, preconceived ideas that assume our perspective on mental health issues.
Clinical terms such as mental illness and specific diagnostic labels such as depression or
anxiety, evoke stigma and lay clear classificatory boundaries between mental states.
This diagnostic approach, exemplified by psychiatrists describes the Categorical
Model where mental illness is clearly distinguished and falls into separate categories,
and is one I believe to be unhelpful. On the other hand, the psychological approach
focuses on our actual experiences of distress and uses terms such as sadness, worry or
madness a concept passionately used by Matt. This approach describes the
Dimensional Model which does not presume sharp dividing lines and removes any
objective and prejudice criteria to distinguish and classify different types of distress from
one another.
Upon reflection, I used the text book and beginning weeks to act as an actual student on
the course and to again quote Barbara Stevini engage as an independent
observer/participant (Steveni 1983) to ground my knowledge, form my own opinions and
contextualize my later work. So far the opinion I have formed is that Abnormal
Psychology, Categorical Models, and Psychiatric Diagnostics may be unreliable
and unhelpful. As they use stigmatizing terminology and definitive diagnostic labels;
these all suggest that the main problem is a persons mental health rather than the
barrier in society and they recognise behavioural patterns of distress as symptoms of
underlying biological difficulties, rather than possible and understandable responses to
adverse life situations. Therefore the content of this module offers the perfect
alternative: Psychosocial and Psychological approaches, Dimensional models,
and Formulations as a form of patient analysis.
Throughout my residency, my primary form of documenting my research and work has
been in the form of a blog, where after each week I have uploaded reflections, quotes,
pictures, diagrams etc which has allowed me to develop my ideas, processes and
practice, and for me, has acted like an online sketchbook. Although, discussed in my
Project proposal I aimed to try and use ResearchGate, where I could post whole projects
but for me it didnt work as an online sketchbook and was fairly complicated. Therefore
this method of collecting documentation worked better.
--
During week 4, coincidentally the March issue of The Psychologist magazine had been
posted through my door, with no name or address attached, an article within the
magazine titled Children of Alcoholism by Alan Price, postgraduate from the university
of Salford describe how people these days have a reluctance to diagnose, seek diagnosis
through fear of stigma (Sutton and Price,2017) and are turning towards more
psychological approaches to analysing and dealing with distress. When looking at the
magazine I was drawn to the cover image, a digital image created by artist Guido
Iafigliola, who not only created the cover image but all images for the corresponding
article A Brave New World of Sleep. I experienced a pivotal shift in thought when
investigating the artist and his work and now began to consider my role as an artist
within this placement as opposed to a student. I studied the image and after researching
his blog, could not find any information as to whether he was commissioned to make the
work, for the article or whether he had made the work first and then the publication had
approached him to use it.
This intrigued me, as recently on other parts of the course, I have been exploring what
Site-Specific art is, and situational art and believe that I can relate the theory here. If
Guido was commissioned to create this piece specifically, then the work could be framed
as Site-adjusted work, as Robert Irwin put it in his Being and Circumstance. Guido
would have considered the site, (in this case, the magazine, the brief and the context of
the work) but would have made the work in his studio to then be transported/uploaded to
the site/place/publication for display. On the other hand, If Guido made the work and
then, the publication approached him, the work would have lost most of its identity and
authenticity in the process of tearing it from its place of production, and context and
presenting it in this whole new framework of a psychology magazine.
--
A week later I received another edition, where the front cover imagery was created by
Eliza Southwood, who specializes in silkscreen printing, but she also works in mixed
media, watercolour, and acrylic. One of her on-going themes is cycling and she has
produced a range of prints, often inspired by bike races. Again this makes me question
whether the artist intended her work to epitomize a top theme in a Psychology
publication when she made it. Because from the sounds of it, she wanted it to epitomize
Bikes, the only clear link, is the word Run.
This inspired me to make my own images, for the module, about the module, employing
all the knowledge I have gained and to combine both disciplinaries by producing work
that is accessible for both subjects to understand. From here on out I considered myself
to be a resident artist, rather than a psychology student. From weeks 4-7 I document and
turn my ideas into visual digital diagrams/sketches of possible work, including The
Bipolar Scale, Formulation Layers, The Dimensional vs Categorical Model guide and
painting plan and Causal Influences.
-REFER TO FORMULATION IMAGE
As touched upon earlier a formulation is a theoretically-based explanation or
conceptualization of the causal influences of someone's distress, similar to diagnoses but
more in depth and less clinical, more psychological. Following a formulation, an
appropriate care intervention will be recommended. For example CBT. And when creating
a formulation, you will draw on all of the narratives and causal influences from
someones past, building up the layers and layers of context to form you theory and
analysis of a patient. I have discussed with Matt about developing these diagrams (The
Bipolar Scale, Formulation Layers, The Dimensional vs Categorical Model and Causal
Influences) further into resolved artworks and giving him permission to use them on
lecture slides for the next year of this module, this forms the first exchange between
myself as a resident artist and the host subject.
I meet with Matt at this point and we discuss the placement so far, the only issue I have
had during my residency, is balancing being a resident artist with being a student on the
course. As part of their assessment, the students have to develop their own formulation
on a case study provided, and I wanted to have a go at it. But after talking with Matt
about it, I decided that it wouldnt be beneficial to my residency, only to my own ego,
therefore we decided on working on a formulation together, where he had written one to
help the students and I would comment and make notes on it, coming from a creative
perspective.

As I began to approach the final 2 weeks of my residency, I consider how I can resolve
one idea into a finished artwork that I believe sums up my residency and epitomizes the
content. The one theme and idea that has followed me all the way through the
placement is the distinction between clinical/medical/categorical and
psychological/dimensional approaches, this idea I have reflected on and visualised most
and therefore want to create a piece that shows exactly that. I created this piece using a
technique I love, spray paint, a quick and wonderful technique I could use for large scale
abstract work and I believe the fluidity, colours and composition work. Specifically the
composition and contrast between the top spectrum and the bottom sectioned spectrum.

I met Matt to speak to him about my resolved piece in week 10, he was very excited
about my concept and described how it perfectly epitomised the underlying battle
between the different models. As a thank you, and exchange I gave him the original
version, which he could decide whether he would take it home or display it in one of the
lecture theatres, he would also show the other lectures and get their feedback.

To conclude and to reflect on my objectives from my Project Proposal I immersed myself

within the module and this new context by building relationships and engaging wherever
I could. I aimed to explore different ways in which my art practice could express how
emotions and experiences are defined within the mental health world. I engaged as a
student in the primary weeks to gain knowledge and explore ideas, then shifted roles to a
resident artist in the middle weeks which allowed me to concentrate on how I was going
to create work that visually represented and communicated what I found most
stimulating within the content of the course. And finally to document all of the research,
my entire thought process, and my liaisons with Matt, in a form that is easily accessible
for all, by using trailed and tested Tumblr as my relevant methods of data collection. I
enjoyed my whole experience more than ever and believe my residency and
corresponding work was successful.
I will never use the word depression again.
Thank you.

Steveni, Barbara. (1983) ARTIST PLACEMENT APG 1966-1983, Aspects Journal.

Sutton, J. and Price, A. (2017). Children of Alcoholism. The Psychologist, (March 2017), pp.46-48.