Drawing in-situ: Matters of care and representation in daily life with dementia

Abstract

This article brings methodological insight into in-situ drawings as representations of daily life with dementia. As part of ethnographic fieldwork in dementia care units in a nursing home, drawings were made on site by a researcher. We suggest that the ambiguity of in-situ drawings, and the ensuing possibilities to disambiguate them, is valuable. Inspired by Asdal and Moser’s (2012) concept of “contexting,” we experimented with arranging the drawings with fieldnotes, discussing them with staff members, as well as with configuring multiple drawings and fieldnotes in sequences. This led to reflexive engagements with the drawings, creating space for discussing concerns in research practices and care practices. Switching between different forms of contexting produced tensions, revealing that what was cared for through the practices of researchers, staff members, and residents, diverged. In this way, we argue that contexting in-situ drawings may intervene in ways of knowing, caring for, and living with dementia.

Visualizing Embodied Experiences: Drawing as a Form of Reflective Inquiry Informed by Gestalt Art Therapy

“…Further, the ethics and politics of materiality is something worth considering (Buchanan and Bryman, 2007). Prior studies (Bell and Davison, 2013;Cleeve et al, 2021) have argued that drawings enable participants to partake in framing what is being investigated, and similarly, the materials the participants are provided with can increase or decrease the sense of agency. For example, in the project focusing on visualizing orgasms, participants often reflected on their choice of materials: using crayons enabled the participants to create gradient textures and thus blur the boundaries between different objects.…”

“…More specifically, drawing as a method of inquiry, due to its ease of use (Stiles, 2004, 2014), holds considerable theoretical and analytical potential, as drawings can communicate ‘implicit and hard to define’ feelings (Zuboff, 1988, p. 141). Thus, we now know that drawings ‘maintain a connectedness between the personal and the political’ (Vince and Broussine, 1996, p. 8) and facilitate ‘careful inquiries into varied and contradictory experiences and ways of knowing’ (Cleeve, Borell and Rosenberg, 2021). Further, as Renaud, Comeau‐Vallée and Rouleau (2021, p. 256) posit, the analysis ‘aspect is often overlooked in research using drawing as if their analyses were self‐evident’.…”