Below are some creative outputs made from/after the conference. These include: poetry, collage and illustration graphics.
Illustrations
The conference had a live scriber who attended the event to create these amazing outputs for us. These were created by Jack Saunders / @JUNKBYJACK.
Morning Session:
Afternoon session:
‘Sharing’ – Collage
A collage by co-organiser and speaker, Harriet Marks. This was created after the event to represent the sorts of ideas and content that were shared at the conference. ‘Sharing’ was one of the terms on the Word Cloud, which was made from the event abstracts.
‘Innovation’ – Poem
A poem by co-organiser and speaker, Juliet Hall. This was written about the year since the event.
A lot has happened
Since June ‘23
I’ve presented at conferences
Submitted a draft thesis
Written a book chapter
About Methodological Innovations.
Does that make me an innovator?
Innovation feels BIG
I don’t feel innovative
I did what felt right
To find a way
So the women that shared their stories
Could have their say.
Their voices re-presented
Their stories told.
The aim we shared
Was to connect with (m)others
In a similar position
Give them hope
So they no longer feel alone
No longer feel cast out
No longer feel lost
If just one person benefits
That has been achieved.
This would not have been possible
Without innovation.
Their stories are important
Their words needed respect
Poetry enabled me
To hear them again
To be respectful
Make sense of their words
Make them accessible to all.
Then came the collage
I would never have thought
I would be cutting up transcripts
Cutting up magazines
Gluing and sticking
Onto a sheet of A3.
Each page a portrait
Of the women that spoke to me.
Each collage a re-presentation
Of the stories I was told.
They are vulnerable
They will change
Over time they will age
They are fragile
Too fragile to touch?
Too scary to interact with?
It’s easier to look away
Ignore the commotion
Walk straight past
Don’t take the risk
The time
The effort
To acknowledge what they say.
Their reality
Is my reality.
Connected by our experiences
I shared my true colours
They shared theirs
Our stories universal and unique.
I had to be innovative,
I owed them that.
I used my academic springboard
To make their private world public
Share their experiences
That are too often misunderstood
Respectful of their words.
Respectful of their stories.
And Maybe,
One day
Things may get better.
For women
For (m)others
For autistic children
And others.
Want your creative work showcased on this site? If so, please contact this email address to discuss ideas: creativemethods2023@plymouth.ac.uk
There are opportunities to share your own creative outputs from the event or your own research. This isn’t compulsory but it is a great way to raise the profile of non-traditional approaches, share our work and keep the discussion going. These could include outputs related to the following:
- The rationale and practical application of creative method(s). What were the implications of using these approaches and the dissemination of findings?
- How would you situate ‘collaboration’ within research?
- Why do we need to disrupt normative methodologies and how does this feel?
- Would you identify auto/biography as a creative method?
- The legitimacy of ‘story-as-scholarship’: how is intellectual validity achieved when our natural voice is also our intellectual/academic voice?
- Does explicit subjectivity enhance or hinder the research process?
We also welcome you sending us something inspired by one or more of the terms from our Word Cloud. This Word Cloud was made from the abstracts from the event. E.g. you could create a collage, poem, song or word tree from one or more of these terms:
- Discovery
- Radical
- Collaboration
- Engaging
- Normative
- Talk
- Helps
- Insight