Making space for art in research

Health research is generally considered to be a scientific endeavour. Researchers often stick to strict scientific methods and use words like rigour, replication and reliability to describe and justify their work. These things are important not least so we can have confidence in the evidence which informs essential services and policy decisions which effect all our lives. But are they enough? What would happen if we made more use of art, music, dance and even poetry in our scientific research?

Gathering data the creative way – from zine to animation

By Sarah Donald, Research Associate, ARC West

ARC-West organised a series of creative workshops to explore people’s experiences of co-producing research. The workshops were open to academic researchers and community-based researchers, so needed to be accessible and engaging to people from diverse backgrounds.

We wanted to provide open-ended opportunities for people to communicate their experiences authentically and meaningfully. At first, we considered using interviews and focus groups. This would have been a straightforward and familiar process, but we didn’t feel it was the right approach for us. These traditional Q&A approaches maintain the power imbalance between the person asking the questions and the person answering. This didn’t fit with our project’s ethos.

We needed an approach that treated everyone as equals, regardless of lived or learnt experience. It also needed to be open-ended, offering opportunities for contributors to engage with the subject matter in their own way. The research team wouldn’t place external parameters on them, by asking research questions or dictating what form their responses should take.

Eventually, we settled on the idea of using zines to capture people’s experiences. Zines are DIY magazines, created using a few sheets of paper and everyday crafting materials. Historically, they are associated with self-expression, activism and protest movements. They have been used by minority communities to share experiences of injustice. More recently, zines are gaining recognition as a powerful approach in research to explore experience and beliefs.

Importantly, zines are completely individual – there is no right or wrong way to make a zine! They let people record their views through writing, drawing or collaging so lend themselves well to projects that need to be accessible and not rely on traditional spoken or pen and paper methods.

Each of our well-attended workshops lasted for 3 hours and we provided a range of art and collage materials to inspire and engage. There were local newspapers and health-related magazines for people to cut up and use, alongside more traditional materials such as stencils, stamps, pens and crayons.

The messages and experiences captured in the zines were so powerful that we quickly realised we needed to share them more widely. Inspired by some of the creative approaches used in ARC West, we worked with the Medical Illustration team at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston (UHBW) to develop the zines into an animation.

The UHBW team worked closely with our community stakeholders and workshop attendees to explore the messages they had captured in their zines. The team developed their words into an audio script and used animated images from different zines to present a visual story to accompany the audio.

The resulting video is a powerful record of what academics and community-based researchers told us about their experiences of co-producing research. Importantly, it is easy to share and, because it combines both audio and visual elements, accessible for a wide range of audiences. We’ve used the film to generate discussion at events and workshops and have shared it with colleagues at the Diverse Research Engagement Network and co-production community of practice meetings.

What started as a creative workshop gradually developed into an important piece of knowledge mobilisation. We’ve been able to use it to engage with a range of audiences on multiple platforms.

Honouring participant voices and sharing research through poetry

By Beverley Forbes, Research Lead, The Nilaari Agency

In the UK, Black men are consistently over-represented in mental health services and disproportionately diagnosed with psychotic illness. All too often, they enter services through the police and criminal justice system, leading to distressing and negative experiences. Despite this over-representation, Black men remain under-represented in access to psychological interventions and are less likely to experience positive outcomes.

This research led by Nilaari Agency set out to give Black men visibility and provide a platform for their voices. They are seldom heard despite their high visibility in secondary mental health services.

Key themes emerged:

• Lack of trust in GPs and medical professionals
• Shame and embarrassment around seeking help
• Limited options, with medication often the only treatment offered
• Faith not recognised or supported in services
• Negative judgement, with participants feeling viewed through a biased lens
• Need for safe, familiar spaces in the community

Participants said they wanted:

• Faith to be acknowledged and integrated into health discussions
• Health professionals to stop assuming Black men “don’t want help”
• Professionals and networks to show genuine interest in their health experiences
• More culturally competent professionals
• Safe spaces to speak openly: “Let us talk, let us test, let us be seen …”

Why a poem?

To share the research findings in a way that truly reflected the voices of the men, we turned to spoken word poetry. A traditional research report or statistics wouldn’t capture the depth of their experiences. Poetry, with its power to carry emotion, voice and gesture, was the natural choice.

We collaborated with Poet Laureate Miles Chambers, who transformed the participants’ words into a moving spoken word performance. This creative approach allowed the community’s truths to resonate widely and authentically, reinforcing trust and validating the importance of the research.

Reflections and lessons learned

The process was powerful, but it also highlighted areas for improvement:

• More time was needed for interviews
• Greater flexibility in working around participants’ availability
• Simplifying some of the research questions
• Challenges in capturing the richness of participants’ words
• Managing unexpected levels of interest in the project
• Establishing agreed follow-up with participants
• Providing handouts with support service information

At its heart, this project reflects Nilaari’s approach to research: recognising the community as the experts of their own experiences, ensuring their voices are heard, and involving them directly in shaping solutions.

By honouring participant voices through creativity, the research not only highlighted systemic issues but also opened up new, more human ways of sharing and understanding lived experiences.