This workshop is based on master ‘s-level research into animation as a form of therapy under the umbrella of graphic medicine. The research project that this workshop is based on, Waiting Room: A Visual Exploration of Grieving a Terminal Loved One, and Its Therapeutic Possibilities, was a practice-based research project that engaged with an emotionally complex human experience of grief and trauma. The research utilises subjective thinking, feeling, and making processes, informed by auto-ethnographic inquiry, to explore how animation can be used to grapple with loss by engaging with the production pipeline of an animated film.

The project harnesses experimental animation techniques to facilitate an internal, psychological dialogue about witnessing the terminal illness of a loved one between practitioner and audience. The goal of Waiting Room and this workshop is to create a space where caregivers can express the complexity of their emotions during this stage of human experience. The workshop, in this specific instance, is based on early experimentations during the artistic research period of the above-mentioned MA.

Participants do not need any prior artistic or animation knowledge. Over the 2 hours, they will learn how to utilize basic tools to create a 30-second (estimate) animation about an experience of their choosing, showing them how accessible the act of animating from home can be.  Participants will be provided with a whiteboard and pens to draw on. The style of animation is ‘straight-ahead’, where feeling and instinct are encouraged to take over as opposed to structure. The use of whiteboards further encourages those to create freely, leaning into the lack of permanency as well as limitation to “artistic skill.” At its core, this workshop intends to promote the accessibility of graphic medicine and visual expression and broaden what that means to participants.