Photo Credit | Neil Harrison
The installation Re-Framing is a collaboration between Rachel and participants from local charity Brain Injury Matters NI. Re-Framing is a visual representation ofa 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 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 who had differing physical impairments associated with their brain injury. As new confidence grew with the techniques over the weeks of making, different shapes evolved. One week during a particularly productive workshop we even ended up running out of paper!
The origami brains were suspended on linen thread - representing a shared heritage and connection to the linen industry in Belfast.
The people involved in this project are:
Donna Batten | Donna-Marie Bell | Rene Boyd | Leslie Beckett | Phillip Green | Lesley Mc Clune | John Mc Clune | Jill Mc Keown | Christine McMillan | Ciara O’Malley | James Stewart | Myrtle Shannon | Clare Soutar | Alexandra Topping | Brian White
Re-framing formed part of Rachel’s solo show, ‘Re-connected’ which spanned the galleries in the Island Arts Centre, Lisburn