Memory Box: A three-dimensional quilt as an arts-based method for recollective practices and memory work

The article explores the use of textile arts to counter dominant narratives associated with stigmatising memory loss and dementia. The article asks how textile arts can generate social transformation and elicit social dialogue to be a vehicle for mitigating societal challenges. Joseph Beuys’s (1979, c.f. Harlan, 2004) concept of social sculpture will be used to understand how textile arts can be used to counter harmful narratives that stigmatise memory loss and dementia. The role of arts-based approaches in improving the quality of life (QoL) and creative engagement with people who experience memory loss, and the role of arts-based methods (ABMs) in recollective practices and memory work will be addressed through an arts-based research strategy that was supported by narrative approaches and documentation via the digital WhatsApp tool that enables text messaging, voice notes and photos to be shared.