Lifting Stress from the Day: A Women's Well-Being Online Community Art Project

Abstract

This article tells the story of a university community engagement project that began in the late spring of 2020 when the world went into lockdown. Increased concern over women's welfare and well-being was brought into question in relation to those who are vulnerable with complex needs and had suffered societal-induced hardships. In conjunction with an innovative women's community project, this study considered the value of art-based online support as a platform from which to offer a non-judgemental and mindful space with a focus on identity and empowerment. The study is based on weekly art drop-in online workshops for vulnerable women and considers the value of hybrid ‘spaces’ as a pedagogical and practical model of communicative support and collective care. Findings from this community-engaged project highlight the responses and shifts within subjectivities through situated art experiences. As art educators, it offers us an understanding of the potential for cumulative and affective artmaking to build communities of care as an inclusive and emancipatory learning tool.