Photo essay: Rest is not doing nothing

First-year occupational therapy students at University College Cork, Ireland, have the experience of ‘doing’ creative occupations as part of a Creative Occupations and Health module. Students engage in weekly 2-hour printmaking sessions over 6 weeks at Cork Printmakers, a professional printmaking studio. Each year, there is a different theme for the students to explore in their sessions, reflecting the occupational focus of the year one curriculum. The theme for the first-year student artists in 2023-2024 was ‘Rest’. An exhibition of the resulting prints took place in the Jennings Gallery, University College Cork from February to May 2025. Images of selected prints accompanied by excerpts from the exhibition catalogue containing each student artist’s statement are presented below with an invitation to readers to engage with and consider the place of rest in their own lives.