Body Mapping

Bodies hold stories. Bodies are stories. Let’s tell them.

Mapping Embodiment is an arts-oriented project led by Dr. Kate Phelps, as part of the 4W Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Women & Wellbeing in Wisconsin & the World). Phelps has led a series of online and in-person workshops in the university setting and with community groups to explore elements of embodiment through a therapeutic “mapping” process that integrates art, journaling, reflection, facilitation, and more. In these workshops, participants are prompted to create a body map to make visual and visible the joys, traumas, growth, curiosities, and other emotions and experiences manifest within the body. Workshop participants have reported feelings of catharsis, recognition, and healing through the body mapping process. Dr. Kate is in the process of analyzing findings for a project on body mapping as radical pedagogy on the college campus, as well as expanding body mapping workshop offerings to other community groups and organizations.