Vicki Painting

My practice - based research explores the concept of ‘frailty of old age’ in which I use a single case study to examine my mother’s lived experience of this syndrome. My positionality as daughter/informal carer/researcher is central to the project. An ‘autoethnographic alliance’ has been formed between mother and daughter; this evolving methodology uses a critical approach to incorporate evocative visual storytelling which makes space for my combined roles to function cohesively. Together we employ strategies which help us to navigate and subvert the emotional impact which the care infrastructure has placed upon us. I am siting the project within the conceptual framework of magical realism as a mode for the “vulnerable and marginalised to challenge the viewpoints of those who have authority over them” (Faris, 2004). Themes of care, anticipatory grief and the unassimilated nature of trauma are investigated using devices such as the mixing of discourses, temporal disruption and the incorporation of the supernatural.