Potentials for cancer survivors: experimentation with the popular expressive arts of drumming, mask-making and voice activation

Abstract

The Creative Practices for People with Cancer is a research team experimenting with the popular arts for purpose of improving survivors’ quality of life. Popular expressive art forms (e.g. drumming and mask-making) are assessed for their potential value for cancer survivors via surveyed team members and a “sculpting” session. Two themes, social cohesion and new self-identities, emerged from the team’s experimentation with the popular, expressive arts. Our experimentation with the popular arts as embodied forms of self-exploration confirms their potential to counter the dominant ideology of cancer as associated with an inevitability of diminished bodies and attenuated selfhoods.

Keywords:

• Arts-in-health programming
• participatory arts
• cancer survivorship
• popular expressive arts

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Based on our web-based pan-Canadian scan of curricula in nursing schools.