2nd Semester Archive

Writing this proposal required about twenty drafts. Advice received I approach Keely Macarow, however, after a conversation and some thinking time I decided Keely was not the right person for me to spend two years of my life working with. I approach Marnie Badham again and she suggested. Laresa Koslof, this worked out well and I started to re-write the application. After about six drafts I got there with great support from potential supervisors. 

However, writing this proposal greatly impacted my thinking about my Build a Brain project, not only for the conclusion of this Honours research project, but in relation to social and public art events proposed for 2021. I did a lot more research and discovered people like Professor Antonio Damasio, Portuguese/American neurscientist who writes about emotions and their place in the body, how the brain receives these neuronal messages and converts them to feeling such as fear and anxiety. This awareness of the body's prominence in emotional expereince was a turning point in my project. I was doing a lot of sensory therapy work, noting changes in my body, such as feeling more grounded, safer, connected, Damasio put words to these awarenesses. I coined the phrase Body Bonding. 

I read about Tibbetan Monks meditating under Functional MRI scans.  Results of this research led back through Default Mode, or self-reflexive relaxed mode to Dr Stephen Porges and also to Daniel Levetin who shows how music impact syncronicity, bonding and connections. 

My therapist suggested Dan Siegel who teaches children about naming their emotions to tame them.  Using his Hand Model of the Brain he shows how our Frontal Cortex is key to forming relationships and thereby developing resilience. Richard Schzwarz who talks about the core self, and the many selves, through his Integrated Family Therapy approach. 

These professionals all informed the final stages of my Building a Brain project and my exegesis. I have never been able to form and sustain strong relationships, my fear and anxiety destroy everything. Information is empower and in association with my sensory therapy practices my body and mind developed. Through enlightenment I gained a sense of safety and was empowered to form healthy reliable connections.