July 2023:

• In July 2023 we were announced as recipients of a Northern Network For Medical Humanities New Networks Grant (funded via the Wellcome Trust). This grant will support a new collaboration with University of the Arts, London, and marks an exciting new phase for the project.

April 2023:

• We are celebrating the completion of the first phase of the Stomach Ache project. We would like to thank the University of Melbourne Creativity and Wellbeing Hallmark Research Initiative, CAWRI for their generous support. Our project report for 2021-22 is available here.

March 2023:

• Our recent Confabulations panel generated some very interesting discussion around creative collaborations with guts. This online event took place on Tuesday 7 March, 7pm GMT / 2pm EST / and Wednesday 8 March 6am AEST. A video recording is available on YouTube until 8th April.

December 2022:

• Join the Stomach Ache project for a Confabulations panel discussion where our lead research Vanessa Bartlett and artists Kathy High and Lindsay Kelley will explore creative collaboration with guts as new ways of understanding human-gut relations, including a response from Claire Hooker. Online (zoom) bookings available via Eventbrite. Tuesday 7 March 2pm EST / 7pm GMT and Wednesday 8 March 6am AEST.

November 2022:

• We’ve been invited to curate a panel for the new series of conversations on health, medicine, and medicalized bodies Confabulations: Art Practice, Art History, Critical Medical Humanities. The panel will be held in late February or early March 2023, with more information to follow.

October 2022:

• Our event “Objects of Digestion” took place on day 2 of The Big Anxiety Forum Naarm, 7 October 2022. Participants were invited to think of (or bring) an object that describes their relationship to their digestion or mind-gut connection. Full details here. 

September 2022:

• A recording is now available of lead researcher Vanessa Bartlett’s seminar “Cultural Imaginaries of Microbial Hacking and the Art of Kathy High.” Thank you to Elizabeth Stephens for hosting this fantastically successful event, and to Claire Hooker for her thoughtful response. 

August 2022:

• Our lead researcher Dr Vanessa Bartlett will be presenting an online Australasian Health and Medical Humanities WIP seminar on Wednesday August 17 2022 – “Cultural Imaginaries of Microbial Hacking and the Art of Kathy High.” More information and registration for the seminar is available here.

July 2022:

• We are excited to be part of the Big Anxiety Naarm Forum, 6-7 October 2022, with an interactive workshop “Stomach Ache: Objects of Digestion,” where we will creatively reimagine the gastrointestinal tract and its impact on anxiety, wellbeing and social interactions.
• Many thanks to our friends at the Arts Health Network NSW/ACT for posting this article about the Stomach Ache project.

April 2022:

• Read a personal introduction to the Stomach Ache project by lead researcher Vanessa Bartlett on the website of our project funder CAWRI, the University of Melbourne Creativity and Wellbeing Research Initiative.