What is Sympoiesis

Creative arts therapy, like dragon-riding, is poly-sensory and paradoxical. This variegated practice frequently falls prey to reductive research processes. Yearning for less dissonance between the what and how of research and greater congruence between the skill sets practiced in research and therapy, the author began exploring arts-based research and autoethnography. These methodologies now entangle under the investigational umbrella-term abr+a (arts-based research through autoethnography). In this chapter, the abr+a-dragon's tail is grasped for an escapade that: explores abr+a as performed by several researchers; revisits workshops facilitated at Whitecliffe (Aotearoa, 2017-2021), the BAAT/AATA Conference (London, 2019), and the ANZACATA Symposium (Brisbane, 2019); and theory-builds by tracing presence, poiesis, process, partnerships, pixellation, playfulness and psyche within abr+a. The intention is to express abr+a's emergent poietic-praxis and contribute to international intersectional conversations about creative research practices appropriate to therapy within a post-truth era.