Psychoanalysis and the Creative Process

Townsend, Patricia and Tan, Kai Syng ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4491-7166 (2019) Psychoanalysis and the Creative Process. Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, KIng's College London, 28 March 2019 - 26 April 2019. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

PSYCHOANALYSIS AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS was a book launch & exhibition of the work of psychotherapist and artist Dr Patricia Townsend, curated by Kai and at her invitation. This took place at Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London. Kai invited Patricia to SGDP and was the curator of the exhibition, and chaired the discussion. During the book launch, which took place on 28 March 2019. Patricia talked about her new book Creative States of Mind: Psychoanalysis and the Artist’s Process (Routledge) and about how psychoanalysis can help to shed light on the way creative people work. The book presents a new psychoanalytic view of the artist’s creative process, rooted in artists’ own accounts of their experiences. It draws on the writing of Donald Winnicott, Marion Milner and Christopher Bollas to illuminate the processes the artists describe. The evening was introduced by SGDP's Professor Louise Arseneault, a keen photographer. Patricia also held a solo exhibition at the SGDP between 28 March -26 April 2019, Transforming Myth. This was a series of hand-printed chlorobromide photographs (1988–1994), from a larger series in which Patricia re-interpreted stories from Greek myth from the point of view of the female characters. The photographs were montaged and hand printed in the darkroom, using specialist photographic paper that is not available today. In her current work, Patricia uses photography, video and installation. Her most recent exhibition, ‘Black Sun, Blue Light’ (November 2018 to February 2019) took place at Brantwood, Ruskin’s former home on Lake Coniston. Patricia was formerly consultant psychotherapist at St George’s Eating Disorders Service (as Patricia Marsden). As an artist, she works with photography, video and installation and her artworks have been exhibited internationally in gallery exhibitions and film screenings. She completed her PhD at UCL Slade School of Fine Art, where Kai also did her PhD.