REFRAMING II - Collaboration with Brain Injury Matters NI
Reconnected - Solo Exhibition, Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick
Image Credit | Simon Mills
The installation Re-Framing II, is a collaboration between Rachel and participants from local charity Brain Injury Matters NI. Re-Framing II is a visual representation of a 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 cyclical 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 3000 pieces of paper shapes, all formed by people with acquired brain injury who had differing physical impairments associated with their brain injury. As new confidence grew with the techniques over weeks of making, different shapes evolved. One week during a particularly productive workshop we even ended up running out of paper!
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