I would recommend that you look at work coming out of Division 10 of the American Psychological Association, Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts which is committed to interdisciplinary scholarship, both theoretical and empirical, encompassing the visual arts, poetry, literature, music and dance. Broadly conceived, we study three interrelated topics: creativity (including developmental, motivational, affective and cognitive processes), the arts (including aesthetic content, form and function) and audience response to the arts (including preferences and judgments). To this end, we apply personality, clinical, cognitive, perceptual, cultural and postmodern psychologies to diverse artists, styles, and epochs. Division 10 offers a biannual publication; three annual awards, the Berlyne, Arnheim, and Farnsworth Awards; and discounts on five specialized journals.

Visit the website for Division 10: Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.

They publish Journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts® (quarterly)

Division 10 offers members discounted subscriptions to the following journals

Creativity Research Journal

Empirical Studies of the Arts

Imagination, Cognition, and Personality

Journal of Creative Behavior

Metaphor and Symbol

References that may be relevant:

The photograph reaches out: Uses of photographs of the dead in China. doi: By Graham, Connor Mortality, Vol 20(4), Oct 2015, 351-374.

Communication media and the dead: From the Stone Age to Facebook. doi:

by Walter, Tony Mortality, Vol 20(3), Jul 2015, 215-232.

Parental grief and memento Mori photography: Narrative, meaning, culture, and context. By Blood, Cybele; Cacciatore, Joanne. Death Studies, Vol 38(4), Apr 2014, 224-233.

"Moments held" documentary. Grief and the expressive arts: Practices for creating meaning.By Hochberg, Todd Thompson, Barbara E. (Ed); Neimeyer, Robert A. (Ed), (2014). Grief and the expressive arts: Practices for creating meaning. Series in death, dying, and bereavement., (pp. 151-155). New York, NY, US: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, xxiii, 312 pp.

Hi Rebeca,  I was referred to the National Palliative Care website for a question I had asked.  You might try going there & checking out their research needs, grants, & who they are.  http://www.npcrc.org/ is their website.  From there you can explore their buttons for possible collaboration on research, etc.

http://www.npcrc.org/

Thank you both for your answers. They seem really interesting references!!

I may offer:

www.academia.edu/13373267/Безумие_и_смерть._Интерпретация_культурных_кодов._2004

see esp. Jose Alaniz and my own paper on visual representations of Ajax's death (the latter if you read Russian :) )

Dear Vadim,

Thank you. It's a pity I cannot read in Russian, but I will enjoy reading the parts in English.

Dear Rebeca,

yes, there also are summaries in English following each article that is written in Russian. Really, here we do some research possibly related to your topic - and based mainly at Soviet visual matter - art, political poster, film etc. - used in propagandistic appropriation of death, like here:

www.academia.edu/12414783/_Вы_жертвою_пали_феномен_присвоения_смерти_в_советской_традиции

or dealing with cultural codes used in death management - like here:

www.academia.edu/12393019/Зверь_как_смерть

though, it's all in Russian, alas. Anyway if you feel that there are some common topics to discuss - feel free to contact me through Academia.edu - or here - or just by e-mail.

best wishes

Vadim

Dear Vadim,

Thank you again! I'm not looking for the appropiation of death, but for documentary or artistic projects related with illness or death (created by patients or caregivers specially). Propaganda, political posters and films are not the kind of material we work with, but I will follow your work.

Dear Rebeca - OK, didn't get it at once, sorry. Anyway - good luck to you and to your project. And I'll ask people here ^)

Vadim

Dear Rebecca,

you may find Susana de Noronha's work very very interesting. She's at University of Coimbra, and has researched and published on the material culture of breast cancer through art. In particular, I remember her presentation on women's narratives of their illness through self portraits and pictures.

This is her personal website and her books (though this is a translation of the titles, I think they're only in Portuguese).

http://www.susananoronha.com/web/index.php/en/

Paint, Mariposas and Metastasis: art as experience, knowledge and action on breast cancer (2009 by Afrontamento) and Objects Made of Cancer: material culture and illness on women's art stories (2015 by Almedina)

Bests,

Francesca

Rebecca can you read Portuguese?  check this site please: https://sites.google.com/site/cerasdesterro/publicacoes

we published a few articles and a book on representation of syphilis and dermatological diseases 

best - cristiana  

Muito obrigado , Francesca e Cristiana,

Eu posso ler Português... mas não escrever.

The references you send me seem really interesting. I will read them.

Best,

Rebeca

 You're welcome. And try to get in touch with Susana Noronha from Coimbra - she has an incredible work on visualization, art and cancer. I was a discussant on her PhD exam and was very impressed with the thesis. Best c