Social action art therapy and the enhancement of political imagination

Abstract

This article provides research-informed insights on the use of social action art therapy within the context of working with diverse communities to imagine future responses to climate crisis at a local level. We present creative responses produced by participants of a study conducted within a community arts space. The work described is inspired by the work of art therapist Savneet Talwar and social ecologist Murray Bookchin. The creative responses come in the form of photographs of objects made by participants and sets of statements that emerged when these objects were used to initiate conversations about the imagined future of the city that participants were located within. This article’s aim is to evaluate the role of social action art therapy and art-based research within the context of the enhancing of collective political imagination in the service of democratically decided and socially just adaptations to climate crisis.