The art of life adapting: drawing and healing.

Fremantle, Chris

Abstract

If more people are living with long term conditions, e.g. cancer, how can we think about the adaptations involved? Are there lessons from adaptation in environment policy and practice, e.g. in the writings of Wendell Berry (b. 1934) on scarred landscapes, and in the conceptualisation of ‘the Force Majeure’ articulated by Helen Mayer Harrison (1927-2018) and Newton Harrison (b.1932)? The author, a practice-led researcher and cultural producer, draws on his experience of cancer treatment and his use of art as a way to make hidden features visible. He relates this to the larger intersubjective and social questions of cancer as an overwhelming force affecting society. Approaches in art, including improvisation, are relevant to adaptation, a process that is necessary for living with cancer.

Citation

FREMANTLE, C. 2020. The art of life adapting: drawing and healing. Leonardo [online], 53(1), pages 83-84. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_01833

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 7, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Aug 15, 2019
• Publication Date: Feb 29, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jan 17, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 17, 2019
• Journal: Leonardo
• Print ISSN: 0024-094X
• Electronic ISSN: 1530-9282
• Publisher: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press (MIT Press)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 53
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 83-84
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_01833
• Keywords: Art; Visual arts; Healing; Cancer; Patient; Disease; Living with cancer
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/3261