Mindful Photo Lab combines mindfulness and creativity, offering photography workshops that promote mental well-being and personal growth.
Creativity, Community and Creative Health
ELF — the East London Festival of Creative Health — is an annual festival exploring how creativity and community can improve our wellbeing. Bringing together artists, researchers and East London communities, each edition takes a fresh look at what it means to make, connect and thrive together. Through exhibitions, workshops, film, publications and conversations, ELF celebrates what happens when people make things together. Based in East London, ELF is part of a growing national movement putting creative health at the heart of community life.
Creative Health: In Practice
Born from the research of Dr Maria Grazia Turri and her team at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), seven years of workshops by Mindful Photo Lab in collaboration with organisations, artists and participants across London, this book is the companion to the ELF exhibition.
Creative Health: In Practice brings together artists, researchers and community practitioners to explore the intersection of art, health and community.
Through lived experience, research and practical examples, the book shows how creative practices can support connection and belonging in real-world contexts.
An essential resource for artists, facilitators, carers and community members working at the intersection of creativity and care.
Where Creative Health Comes to Life
Made with communities of all ages, cultural and social backgrounds across London.
The five key ingredients of creative health — identified through research by Dr Maria Grazia Turri and her team at Queen Mary University of London — were the framework of this exhibition.
For the exhibition, we assigned a colour to each ingredient that connects to each artwork presented. They were created by various communities we work with — stroke survivors at Shoreditch Trust, children from Bethnal Green After School Club, community members and more, and facilitated by artists.
The idea is to explore the process of creative health and what makes it possible. Although the workshops and artworks need all five ingredients to be successful, we focused on one for clarity.
Fragments of Winter
Key Ingredient: Time for Reflection
Fragments of Winter Collective poem
Written with a stroke survivor group at Shoreditch Trust, shaped by artist and facilitator Lotje Sodderland.
Read by Sami Rhymes.
Lotje, who has lived experience of stroke herself, facilitated this session in the run-up to Christmas. Participants shared memories and feelings about winter — some joyful, some difficult. The poem was built from these fragments, shaped collectively from what had been shared in the room.
Key ingredient: Time for Reflection
Read more in Creative Health: In Practice, p.20, p.64
Exploring Home and Identity Through Making
Exploring Home and Identity Through Making Collective sculpture
Made by children at Bethnal Green After School Club with artist Charlotte Mew.
Each child made their own miniature house using cardboard, paper and found materials, drawing on their own ideas of home and belonging.
Individual houses were then brought together to create an imaginary community — personal interpretations of home becoming a shared world of stories.
Key ingredient: A Safe Environment —
Co-creation and Collaboration
Read more in Creative Health: In Practice, p.15, p.60
7 Years, 2019–2026 — 52 photographs & Creative Health Tool
7 Years, 2019–2026 — 52 photographs & Creative Health Tool
Seven years of creative health workshops across London — 52 photographs selected from thousands taken by participants and facilitators.
From this practice, a tool was born: 52 Playful Assignments to see the world through fresh eyes, combining mindfulness and photography. One assignment per week, for a year.
Facilitating creative health activities means holding many things at once: fostering playfulness while maintaining safety, providing consistency while staying flexible.
It can be a lonely place.
When participants take on leading roles — as Rose has done, motivating others, helping shape ideas and occasionally leading sessions — they also become a support for the facilitator.
Key ingredient: Access to Adequate Resources — Consistent Long-term Provision
Read more in Creative Health: In Practice, p.19