Have you ever wanted to press pause on your busy life? Take a little creative time out? Waterford Healing Arts is delighted to announce that artist Catarina Araújo has been selected as the WHA Artist in Residence for 2022. Through her project Pause || Play, Catarina will offer staff of University Hospital Waterford (UHW), the opportunity to take some creative time out from their busy lives. The Artist in Residence scheme is funded by the Arts Council.
Catarina Araújo is a visual artist based in Cork city since 2017. Originally from Portugal, Catarina holds an MA in Art and Process from MTU Crawford College of Art and Design. Working with sculpture, printmaking and film, her practice researches mental health and behavioural patterns by exploring the connection between the body, mind and past experiences. She aims to expand the field of art and mental health, using artistic approaches to explore new methods of addressing mental health distress.
For her residency, Catarina will offer hospital staff opportunities to experience art making through drop-in sessions at lunchtime and a series of evening workshops. Catarina explains “I am looking forward to offering the staff at UHW time to engage in a creative and imaginative art making project that reflects on the importance of taking time and space to oneself. I hope the staff will join me in playful workshops, where individual concepts will be developed through conversations, leading to the creation of small-scale sculptural work.”
Claire Meaney, Director of Waterford Healing Arts, added “We are thrilled to welcome visual artist Catarina Araújo to our team as Artist in Residence for 2022. Catarina’s practice is all about play and experimentation with a focus on allowing the self to take time to pause and reflect. We feel this will be a welcome offering for staff, particularly after the last very difficult couple of years. The WHA Artist in Residence programme is a means of engaging staff or patients in contemporary arts practice and is also an opportunity for artists to develop their professional practice within an acute hospital context. We are very grateful to the Arts Council for continuing to fund this important programme.”
