Janet Harris South Yorkshire, United Kingdom

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I am an art therapist and a mixed media artist based in the north of England. I explore residual memories of landscapes and environments where I lived and worked pre-pandemic, the changes that are occurring and how these affect our sense of being connected to places.

During the pandemic, I had to stay indoors for a year and when I started to go out, I caught covid which became Long Covid. For the past 5 years, opportunities to explore the landscape - which was an essential part of my art practice - became very limited. When I was able to walk again, going out triggered a range of neurological responses which were challenging to manage. In 2024, I used a residency in Finland to research interoreception - our ability to notice bodily signals and become aware of our internal state. This knowledge was combined with my art therapy experience, to develop activities which support the regulation of the nervous system. I now deliver workshops so that people can develop a creative practice that helps them to manage Long Covid and other long term conditions. My own artwork uses photographs and plein air sketches to explore what enables me to engage with a place, alongside the obstacles to being there. Tools from an international rehabilitation programme for Long Covid are used to support the process of exploration. These include mindfulness, yoga nidra, visualising, and breath work. The sketches are used to reflect on the experiences of venturing out while dealing with a long term and disabling condition. Some become larger works which include acrylic on board, watercolours, collage and encaustic.