The Voicebox
Level 5
Royal Festival Hall
Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

In this seminar, ‘Motivation: the artist and the psychoanalyst’ the ResCen Research Associate Artists engaged in conversation with Dr Hanna Segal, psychoanalyst and author. Hannah Segal is one of the best-known living British psychoanalysts. She was one of the first European psychoanalysts to receive the prestigious Sigourney Award for contributions to psychoanalysis. Her first two books on Melanie Klein are classic texts and she is one of the most influential figures within the British Psychoanalytical Society. Her work with psychotic patients and with artists blocked in their work led to discoveries about the nature of symbolism and of the creative impulse, discoveries which in turn have opened the way to refinement of theory and technique.

Together, the Research Associates and Hanna Segal explored the impulses that instigate creative work and the ways in which creative energy is sustained over decades of artistic practice. Specific themes included: the artistic endeavour as internal and external processes; the artist's relationship to the verbal realm.

Guest speaker: Dr. Hanna Segal
ResCen participating artists: Ghislaine Boddington, Shobana Jeyasingh, Richard Layzell, Rosemary Lee, Graeme Miller and Errollyn Wallen
Chair: Chris Bannerman, Head of ResCen

This event was supported by NESTA

Full seminar transcription