In the last year, the All-Things Social Group from Headway Limerick have really become part of the Hunt Museum family. They have visited our temporary exhibitions, participated in one of our art programmes and even presented their own exhibition in the Museum, entitled “Brainbow”.
This wonderful relationship began last February when this group visited the Museum for the first time to experience the Seeing Without Sight: A Multisensory Exhibition. The audio description and touch components presented in this exhibition particularly appealed to members of the group who have experienced sight loss and problems with visual perception as a direct result of their acquired brain injury.
The exhibition experience was quiet emotional for some service users with cognitive impairment, as the exhibition did not require them to read text, just to listen and touch” – Maria Cagney, Hunt Museum
Headway service users also visited the museum’s Creepie Crawlies: Love/Hate exhibition in October.
Brainbow exhibition
Art therapy plays a significant role in supporting service users at Headway to come to terms with life after acquired brain injury. On learning more about Headway’s work in this area, The Hunt Museum invited the group to display some of their work. From here, the Brainbow exhibition was conceived and service users worked hard to produce new work for it. The exhibition ran at the Hunt Museum for two weeks in November 2024.
Each artwork used an image of the brain as the starting point and means to provide “a window into the artists’ lives, representing the contrast between life before and after their injuries”.
The left side of each artwork represents life as it was – a time of ease and familiarity. The right side illustrates the present day reality, reflecting the resilience, hope, and at times, the fears and challenges they face everyday. Together, these halves tell a story of transformation and adaptation, brought vividly to life by the artists hands”
Creativity for Wellbeing programme
Most recently, Headway service users participated in the museum’s Creativity for Wellbeing programme. As part of this art and meditation session, they explored the painting, An Atlantic Drive, painted in 1944, by internationally renowned Irish artist, Jack B. Yeats.
With support from artist Evelyn Kelly, service users experimented with paint mixing, paint application and collage, to recreate their own interpretations of this artwork. Inclusive art making processes were used to ensure service users with impaired fine motor skills could fully participate in and enjoy this experience.
Where to next?
Headway service users have expressed a keen interest in learning more about objects in Hunt Museum’s Permanent Collection, so over the coming months, museum docents will lead a series of short tours with them.
Plans are also afoot for Headway Limerick’s horticultural group to become volunteers in the Hunt Museum Garden, enabling them to share their knowledge and skills.