Alison Lewis Sweidan

m a k i n g s p a c e was made as creative response to my MA Inclusive Arts Practice research project.

It was produced by gathering doodles and reinterpreting them on a larger scale. It takes the principles of my practice – creating a low pressure, inviting and welcoming environment, so that participants want to join in rather than feel they must, and expands it into large scale drawings.

The first framed piece is a collection of doodles created by family, friends and colleagues. The doodles were made with just enough ‘rules’ to get started, eliminating the intimidation of a blank page. Using the same instructions, on the same type and size of paper, their small scale provides a low-risk way to express oneself.

The neurodiverse young people I worked with during my research project would have faced a lot of demands and pressure just to get though their day. I went into their space, which was a place they go to after school hours to relax, eat, and play games. I used doodling within guidelines (paper size, pen type, outlines) as a way to encourage the group to gather together at the beginning of our projects and to work side by side.

In the same way, I have used the doodles to share my ideas with friends, family and colleagues who have in turn passed on the guidelines to others. They have generously joined me in co-creating a piece of work that leaves space for the viewer to imagine their own contribution. I have also worked within my own constraints of time and mental and physical space to respond to their squares with an amplified square of my own (100 x 100 cm), redrawing and expanding their patterns and motifs into the second framed work.