Performing the human subject: Arts-based knowledge dissemination in health research

This article reflects on a pilot project undertaken at the University of British Columbia, Canada, by an interdisciplinary team of researchers and lay and professional artists. The project was an experiment in the use of arts-based methods as a means of disseminating research findings from a five-year funded study entitled ‘Centring the Human Subject in Health Research: Understanding the Meaning and Experience of Research Participation’. Through the creation, performance and/or display of found poetry, drama, song and visual arts, more than 50 researchers and artists collectively presented the experiences of human subjects involved in many types of health research. By way of detailed discussion, this article explores the practice and process of interdisciplinarity as it applies to arts-based health research.