Intercultural Communications Lecture - Dr Jessica Bradley

In this seminar I consider artmaking as an intercultural encounter, focusing on the everyday. I draw on examples from my research in arts and health programmes, including my current project which focuses on creative journaling with mothers and birthing parents (Bradley, 2025-2026). The arts, in terms of methodologies, practices and contexts, are dynamic intercultural spaces, and interculturality in and through art has been examined from diverse perspectives. Indeed, there is much that interculturalists can and do bring to the study of participatory arts with communities. This goes beyond ‘arts-based research’, or ‘creative methods’ in a social sciences context, instead exploring intercultural lenses on art, including artmaking processes, artworks and the experience of engaging with art. Focusing on data from research with journaling groups over the past four years, I will consider the role of artistic practices and collective making in reimagining the everyday, and set out future directions for research embedded in creative community contexts.