Exploring Expertise: The Artist's Book: Working with Families and Professionals
This event introduces artists’ books as a creative method for supporting self-expression and helping individuals articulate emotions and experiences that words often struggle to capture.
Participants will hear about the use of artist’s books as a creative tool for reflection, storytelling and well-being. The presenters will share examples from their work with mothers whose children have been placed for adoption, as well as their experience of using this approach with professionals in social work, law and therapeutic contexts. Social workers and those working with families will have the opportunity to learn about how simple book-making techniques can help people process experiences, express identity, and build confidence. Participants will gain insights into practical, low-cost activities they can use with children, parents, and families to support communication, creativity and self-expression.
Further details on Dr Bolaki’s and Dr Davey’s work, including a guidance booklet on making an artist’s book, can be found on the following project website: www.mothersafteradoption.com
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
As part of this session, you will:
• Be introduced to the artist’s book and creative techniques you can use in engaging with individuals and families.
• Reflect on best practices and how to tailor this work through discussion.
• Learn about available resources and how you can receive support in the future if you want to deliver workshops that develop this method further.
PRESENTERS
Dr Samantha Davey is a Lecturer at the University of Essex and has a wealth of experience in family law and family dynamics. Her expertise in adoption law, stemming from her PhD research, was published as a monograph by Hart in 2020 (Non-Consensual Adoption in England and Wales: A Failure of Proportion). With a notable passion for interdisciplinary and intergenerational research, she has made substantial contributions to the fields of law and social sciences. Her work has focused on the human rights implications of adoption without parental consent on the parent/child relationship, delving into the significance of the UNCRC. She has explored the significance of adoption on wider family relationships, such as grandparents, in Grandparents and the Law: Rights and Relationships and within a chapter in Family Law Reform Now: Proposals and Critique.
Dr Stella Bolaki is Reader in American Literature and Medical Humanities at the University of Kent and served as Co-Director of the Centre for Health and Medical Humanities (2022–2025). Her research specialises in women’s writing and narratives of illness and wellbeing, which she has explored in monographs such as Illness as Many Narratives: Arts, Medicine and Culture (Edinburgh University Press) and other academic publications. She has led a range of collaborative, community-engaged projects investigating the artist’s book as a creative and accessible medium for expressing complex or hard-to-articulate experiences. Her current work advances interdisciplinary research at the intersections of health, wellbeing and social justice.
WHO'S IT FOR?
This event is for a range of professionals in social work, therapeutic ,and legal settings, as well as mothers whose children have been removed or placed for adoption. It will provide an opportunity for meaningful personal reflections and a sense of community with others who share similar experiences.
FEES
Members: FREE (don't forget to log in to your account to receive your discount)
Non-members: £20+VAT.
CONTACT
Telephone: 0207 520 7520 / 0310
Email: events@corambaaf.org.uk
£20.00