Isobel Platt, is a Dystonia researcher and medical doctor working at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in England. Isobel recently contacted us to tell us about a collaborative ceramics art project she is working on with artist Zoe Wu, regarding lived experiences with dystonia.
Their community project, ‘From Home,’ explores the relationship between the home, objects of daily use and the impact of dystonia. Through a series of ceramics workshops, they brought together an intimate group of participants living with dystonia to share their experiences with each other and explore their individual journeys. Together, they made slip casted objects using moulds of meaningful objects for each individual, such as instruments that could no longer be played, tools used to help dampen down their dystonia and new sources of rehabilitation and activity. They then explored different ways to manipulate the clay forms to capture the impact, feelings and relationships they each have with their dystonia. The objects will be presented collectively in a piece that will be exhibited on the 14th-15th of May at the University College London Main Campus as part of the Arbor 2 Showcase.
You can read a blog post written by the individuals evaluating the project at the link below:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/exploring-everyday-life-neurological-movement-disorders-po6ze?trk=public_post_feed-article-content
You can learn more about the Arbor 2 Project here:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/brain-sciences/ion/research/public-engagement/trellis-arbor/home-experiences-dystonia-domestic-spaces
