BU Research Blog

Last year we were awarded funding to enable us to work with a local community artist to share our research findings. This funding was offered as part of a joint venture between Bournemouth University and BEAF Arts Co, a multi-art form festival and year-round arts programme.

We used the funding to collaborate with artist Jenny Tarr, to support us in sharing the findings from the ‘perceptions of ageing in a digital world’ project. This project is co-created by academic researchers from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre and local older adults, who are co-researchers. We used Photovoice to explore what it means to be an older person in a digital world, as we hoped to shed light on the impact of the digitalisation of society on older people.

Meeting the Artist

We were a little nervous when we first meet. We wondered where to start, there were so many ideas we wanted to discuss. Jenny put us at ease through, and we spent some time sharing our thoughts and moments from the project. She also asked us questions that made us think about the key messages that we wanted to share about the project and gave us several options for how this might work in art form. We decided that we would like a digital image that encapsulated the project, something we could display next to the photos from the project to entice attention and use to represent the project more generally.

Seeing the Research Through New Eyes

When the sketches arrived, we felt a mix of excitement and nervousness. We were really impressed with how Jenny had captured the essence of our participants. We found ourselves understanding our own findings differently—Jenny gave our participants’ voices a new dimension.

This collaboration has reminded us that research isn’t only about what we discover; it’s about how we choose to share what we’ve learned—and who we hope will feel seen because of it. We have already exhibited the photos at Talbot Campus, and we are planning on taking them to a community venue and showcase them alongside the image created by Jenny.

We would highly recommend working with Jenny, and other community artists, the experience has been thought provoking, and we also have a piece of artwork that will forever encapsulate our project findings.

Michelle Heward, Lecturer in Psychology & Jenny Tarr, Community Artist.

Further information

For more information on the research project, please see the project webpage http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/ageing-dementia-research-centre/adrc-research-participation-group or contact Dr Michelle Heward mheward@bournemouth.ac.uk

The research project is funded by the British Society of Gerontology (BSG) Averil Osborn Award for Participatory Research. The views expressed and discussed may not represent the views of the BSG.

Fore more information about Jenny Tarr, please see the following webpage https://www.jennytarr.co.uk/