CHASE public lecture will explore the power of art in healing division

Two acclaimed art practitioners are preparing to explore how creative practice can forge connection in fractured times at a Northumbria University Centre for Health and Social Equity (CHASE) public lecture later this month.

Arts professional Dima Karout and sound artist Paul Nataraj will present Art and Coalescence in Times of Rupture on Wednesday 26 November, examining how their work responds to rupture as political, societal and temporal constructs. They will share how they develop coalescence through partnerships and with communities in the UK and beyond, grounded in collaborative acts of reclamation and repair.

The conversation, chaired by Newcastle-based visual arts producer D6:Culture in Transit, promises to offer fresh perspectives on tackling inequality through creative collaboration.

Dima Karout specialises in socially engaged art, cultural heritage, placemaking, innovative learning, and creative health. With over 15 years of experience, she has collaborated with leading museums, universities, charities, local authorities, and inspiring art practitioners to develop long-term partnerships, design creative projects, implement participatory practices, and shape inclusive cultural strategies.

Notable projects include her leadership role in the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture, engaging over 100 cultural and policy leaders, artists and residents to shape and implement a borough-wide creative vision for Sanctuary. She designed the Migration Museum’s first residency and engagement programme for artists with experience of migration, and created large participatory installations at the British Museum, Shakespeare’s Globe and Brent Museum, among others — championing cultural rights and bringing artistic practices closer to thousands of people from all backgrounds.

Paul Nataraj is a sound artist who is interested in sonic materiality in the space of diasporic memory and identity and postcolonial subjectivities. His work explores the connections and relationships between the objects of sound and assemblages of the self. Recent exhibitions and performances include the Jerwood Survey III (national touring); Nottingham Contemporary; Leeds City of Culture in 2023; the Kochi Biennale in India in 2022, and British Textile Biennial 2021. He was an Associate Researcher on the project, Migrant Memory and the Postcolonial Imagination at Loughborough University, working closely with the South Asian community in the Midlands and East London. He has also worked closely with the community in Whally Range, Blackburn, producing the podcast series, Kick Down The Barriers.

He holds a PhD in Sound Studies from the University of Sussex.

Addressing inequality through the arts

The lecture forms part of the ongoing CHASE mission to tackle inequalities through research, education and community engagement across North East England. Professor Monique Lhussier, founding Director of CHASE at Northumbria University, will welcome guests to the latest event in the CHASE Lecture Series.

Professor Lhussier said: “The concept behind CHASE at Northumbria is all about uniting to overcome inequalities within our society through world-class research carried out by experts from multiple disciplines, supported by partners from within the communities we serve. So it’s fantastic to have Dima and Paul joining us to share their take on achieving collaborative acts of reclamation and repair in the current challenging times we are all living through.

“The University has a longstanding relationship with D6. Their work with arts professionals is rooted in social justice and equity and the lecture promises to explore, through an artistic lens, the social and environmental issues that concern and connect us all.”

Both speakers have strong connections to D6: Culture in Transit, the visual arts organisation hosting the conversation. Karout currently serves as a D6 Board Member, whilst Nataraj is among 22 commissioned artists participating in Contested Desires: Constructive Dialogues—an ambitious international project exploring European colonial histories through contemporary art.

• The free public lecture takes place on Wednesday 26 November from 6pm to 8pm in the Business and Law Building, City Campus East, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Further information and registration details are available here.