School of Culture & Communication Art History

Art History Australian Research Council-funded research projects

Framing Marginal Art: Developing an ethical and multi-dimensional framework for exhibiting art by people who experience mental illness and/or psychological trauma

Dr Anthony White, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne
Dr Karen Jones, School of Philosophy, The University of Melbourne
Dr Eugen Koh, The Cunningham Dax Collection
Dr Nurin Veis, Museum Victoria

Exhibiting creative works by people who experience mental illness and/or psychological trauma is fraught with difficulties. There are complex ethical considerations, and the historical tendency to exhibit these works exclusively within either an aesthetic or clinical framework confines the works and their creators to a one-dimensional identity. This project, which focuses on the exhibitions of the Cunningham Dax Collection, explores these issues. The research will generate a new methodology for exhibiting these works that is ethically sound and embraces the richness of these works. The exhibition methodology will be tested through focus groups and surveys of exhibition visitors.

 

More research projects

Further information on the variety of projects in which staff and research fellows are involved is available on their profile pages, which can be accessed from the following pages:

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