Working thesis title:  Community Art to Increase Preparedness in the Context of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Action in Indonesia

Supervisors: Dr Rebecca Mayo, Dr Maria Hynes, Dr Ellen Kent

This research focuses on engaging a peri-urban community living in an Indonesia's disaster-prone area in a communal artmaking project. The aim is to investigate how community arts can function to explore their lived experience and their agency with respect to the land. Arts-based collaborative methods will be employed and informed by art psychotherapy theories and practices. The community will be represented by maximum 20 members to form a group who will participate in every project stage, namely consultation, communal artmaking, discussions, and dissemination stages that will span over 12 months. The data will be analysed qualitatively and some parts collaboratively with the group participant. At the end of the project, I expect to find out to what extent community arts impact their cohesion and agency, as well as find out if there are any implications for art therapy practice and climate change action.