Helen Thompson Lancashire, United Kingdom

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Neurodivergent visual artist exploring embodied experience through drawing, painting and mixed media. My work draws on my background as a former elite gymnast and responds to movement, sensation and mental imagery emerging through EMDR therapy. Projects include ‘ProPriOception’ (Arts Council England - DYCP) and ‘Exploring Embodied Experience’, supported by a CuratorSpace Artist Bursary.

My art practice focuses on the body, movement and embodied experience, with a strong emphasis on drawing, mark-making and line. I work intuitively across drawing, painting and mixed media to explore how physical sensation, memory and movement can be translated into marks on a surface.

Much of my work draws on personal experience. In the project ProPriOception, supported by Arts Council England, I explored the physical memory of movement through my background as a former elite gymnast. The work examined both the dynamic beauty of acrobatic performance and the pressures within elite training environments, acknowledging the impact this culture can have on young athletes’ wellbeing.

More recent work has developed through Exploring Embodied Experience, a series shaped by my journey through EMDR therapy. These works respond to felt sensations, mental imagery and internal landscapes that emerge during the therapeutic process, using drawing as a way to trace and reflect on embodied awareness.

Alongside my studio practice I facilitate workshops and participatory arts projects across the North West of England. I have worked with organisations including Outside In, King Street Arts CIC, and Mainspring Arts, and have undertaken professional development with the Arts & Health Hub and DASH, including safeguarding training and a Level 3 Award in Adult Education. Recent projects include mural commissions for the Lancaster Canal Regeneration Partnership, and Kendal Town Council.