Creative Collaborations
Gemma enjoys collaborating with others to raise awareness of everyday social issues through creative activities. Her work has explored topics including the policy experiences of adults with cerebral palsy, living with movement difficulties, and the experiences of disabled people during Covid.
Unchartered Togetherness
Unchartered Togetherness is a co-created poetry film co-created with three adults with cerebral palsy: Natalie South-Law, Richard Luke, Emma Livingstone, and Gemma as part of her PhD. The project was supported by Brunel University London, and the Economic and Social Research Council, Grand Union Doctoral Training Pathway, Scope Disability Charity, and Up The Adult Cerebral Palsy Movement
The artwork was shared in an art exhibition as part of Brighton Arts Festival. Several interactive question-and-answer sessions were held with the general public to discuss the artefacts and the social issues around cerebral palsy that it concerned.
That Girl With CP
That Girl With CP is a recorded spoken word performance piece by Natalie South Law, co-created with Gemma Cook as part of her PhD. It was made with support from Brunel University London, Economic and Social Research Council, and Grand Union Doctoral Training Pathway
Movement Reality
Movement Reality was a creative collaboration between three adults living with neurological conditions, spoken word artist NaoKo TakaHashi, Occupational Therapist Athena Logothetis, academic Dr Elizabeth Cassidy and Gemma. A spoken word performance piece, under NaoKo's artistic concept was created with the aim of re-evaluating the relationship between movement and the body using artwork emphasising ‘voice’ as ‘body’. Below is a word-cloud of some of the feelings that were explored in the piece
Mengele's Doctrine
Mengele's Doctrine was a collaboration between disabled actors Jon Cooper, Shiv Grewal and Gemma. They worked together online, during Covid, to explore meaning in the experience of lockdown from the perspective of being disabled in the UK. This resulted in the below performance piece.