Abstract
This qualitative study investigates the potential of the Arts for building resilience amongst unemployed and underemployed Australians with disabilities. Artistic endeavours are acts of self-definition but also play a role in society’s meaning-making. By promoting the visibility of people with disability and their views, they can become successful advocacy tools. However, there are challenges to turning art-making into paid employment. This chapter explores these possibilities and complexities within an individual funding landscape. Ten consenting artists with various disabilities were interviewed using both a semi-structured and arts-based approach, analysed using grounded theory techniques. Four complex themes emerged: art-making assisted participants to define their self; art-making had a therapeutic role enhancing well-being; it enabled liminality in a finite body and it opened opportunities that could (but did not always) result in successful employment.
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Notes
- 1.
Some artists consented to use of their names for this study.
- 2.
Descriptive data have been summarised to preserve the identity of some participants.
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Riches, T., Riches, V., O’Brien, B. (2020). “Colouring Outside the Lines”: Employment and Resilience for Art-Makers with Disabilities. In: McKay, L., Barton, G., Garvis, S., Sappa, V. (eds) Arts-Based Research, Resilience and Well-being Across the Lifespan. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26053-8_14
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