ABSTRACT

Rachel Fitzpatrick is a designer and maker working at the interfaces of art, design and social practice. Re-Connecting explores the artist’s reconnection with creativity and colour after her recovery from a neurological disorder and learning to live with an acquired brain injury. The exhibition explores visual elements of Rachel’s rediscovery of her creativity.  The pieces explore reconnection with colour through making, music and storytelling with some pieces taking inspiration from stories of recovery and resilience depicted in native folk songs.  The central installation is a collaborative piece created with participants from local charity ‘Brain Injury Matters NI’.

The installation Re-Framing II, is a collaboration between Rachel and participants from local charity Brain Injury Matters NI.  Re-Framing is a visual representation of a cyclical journey of change and transformation after acquired brain injury. Over several months of workshops, Rachel and the participants worked to develop a way to create origami ‘brains’.  The installation is created in loops or ripples of origami brains, representing a cyclical journey of re-framing life after acquired brain injury.  

Colour was discussed at length during the sessions.  Bright colours dominate the final piece, representing positive memories and experiences.  Black is omitted as it was thought to be a negative colour, there is no room for negatively when reframing life - only moving forward.  White is absent as the group believed this colour represents the immediate period of time post trauma, when you make peace with your deficits and commit to reframing  your life. This installation consists of over 2500 pieces of paper shapes, all formed by people with acquired brain injury who had differing physical impairments associated with their brain injury.  As new confidence grew with the techniques over weeks of making, different shapes evolved.  One week during a particularly productive workshop we even ended up running out of paper!This body of work was kindly supported through funding by the Arts Council NI through the National Lottery.

Photography Credit | Simon Mills