CONFERENCE THEME

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Ithaca
Repetition and Return in the Arts Therapies

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The conference theme is inspired by the poem Ithaca written in 1911 by the Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy. It is a poem which explores the idea of journey, using Homer’s Odyssey as an allegory. It speaks to notions of home and cycles of experience. It reflects on a journey of encounter – with places, creatures and states of being. Cavafy energises a call to adventure, offering images for internal and external struggle and playing with the paradox of destination. 

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The conference theme addresses the ideas of “repetition and return”. Repetition manifests in the cyclical nature of experience, and the reappearance and re-rendering of image. It may be noticed in artwork as an expression of an inner state which repeatedly shapes itself into image. It may be part of a ritual, creating a structure and form to facilitate new experience, or the recapitulation of a repeating form which augments as it evolves. Repetition in music, dance, theatre and art can be a convention to instil, deepen and contain depths of feeling. Through noticing patterns of behaviour, images and phenomena, there is a sense of an unfolding rhythm. Through revisiting certain motifs, there is the potential for transformation. Individually this may be a recurring dream, an obsession, a memory taking shape, or an image which reappears. Collectively, we observe the repeating cycles of celebration, conflict, transgenerational trauma, ideology and narrative in nation, culture and community.

Return is an archetypal image with associations of home, memory and belonging. It is a recurring theme in myth, literature and storytelling, often marking the return of an adventurer as in Cavafy’s poem. There is the eternal recurrence – the cyclical return as part of a natural cycle – of seasons, of death and of regeneration. Return offers renewed perspective, perhaps through the dissolution of nostalgia or the revelation of a transformed viewpoint. In psychoanalysis there is the work of the recovery of lost or exiled parts of the Self. These may feel uncanny, or be the root cause of symptomatology, but it is through their remembrance and return that the psyche can heal. For many the links between home and return are disrupted by geo-political and ecological events beyond their control. There is also the prospect of no return with its many interpretations. How do the arts, through expression, imagination and practice help us navigate these ideas? 

We invite proposals which explore “repetition and return” through the lens of the arts therapies. Submissions may address arts therapies education, clinical practice, research, theory, cultural narratives and interdisciplinary intersections. 

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The Call for Papers is open from Friday 6 June 2026 .

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Go to the Call For Papers page