Final Intervention Art Therapy

    My project is a simple art therapy experiential I created for a client/patient looking for a way to process trauma, grief, and loss. I chose this topic because I wanted to shed light on another aspect of difficulty that has not been exposed in my previous interventions on cults like the one I was raised in. I created this method of outreach as a way to bring others into my concentration not necessarily only on or for cults but survivors of any trauma, but as an act of solidarity for anyone who has gone through hardship in their life. The purpose of this is to as well introduce people to my field of study, art therapy, that not only creates a sense of community for survivors and people with mental illness in the therapeutic field but also provides a space for them in the art world. I am an art therapy major and so not only do we learn and practice how to do tried and tested experientials with clients, but we must also learn how to create our own experientials as well as to alter these exercises for clients given their own circumstances.

    I have multiple messages for my audience outside of spreading awareness about cults and trauma. I created this piece to communicate the message that the loss of community is the loss of ones’ self. It is a call for us to examine ourselves and the ways that we are interacting with our environment. How can we create a space in ourselves and challenge that even further–create a space onto a canvas– that is nonjudgmental to allow this influence to expose itself in front of us? For me this loss of community came from a variety of origins outside of the influence of the cult but things that for me it also represents for example colonization, religious inquisition, and patriarchy. Bell Hooks summarizes it all in her piece Understanding Patriarchy, “Patriarchy is a political social system that insists that males are inherently dominating. Superior to everything and everyone seems weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak, and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence,” which summarizes my experience in a religious cult (Hooks-18). I create outreach with my instruction method. Which is inspired and similar to Yoko Ono’s poems from her book Grapefruit. However, it also takes inspiration from a similar experiential created for grief by art therapist Jackie Schomberg. I also went on to display this project in the school for the little time it was done before the presentation, which is not typical for art therapy unless the client/patient requests. In my actual piece, I was inspired by Dr. Ben Jones and his activist pieces. As well as Hannah Hoch’s collage style and activist pieces for her time.

    In regards to the method I wanted to take in terms of storytelling and my message, I was heavily influenced by Chapter 3 of our book Art as Activism that goes into the story of Jesus Christ and his activism and methods. Specifically, in the principle of, “This confusion was intentional. Using parables like these, Jesus created an opening for his audience to make the message their own. Unlike a list of grievances or demands, easily understood and just as easily ignored, the Parables asked listeners to puzzle through their mysteries and meanings.” (Act-90). I was also inspired by our readings from Understanding Patriarchy by Bell Hooks as a way to further question my relationship with my inside/outside. Another creative that inspired this intervention was Kimberly Drew’s This is What I Know About Art and her backstory and rise to becoming a curator, “I wanted to share a few moments that have helped shape me as an activist and as a proudly angry black person who has loved art for as long as they can remember. There was a point in my career where I feared my anger. I fear that my anger would scare others. but looking back, I know without a doubt that I have the right to be mad– on these pages and out in the world.” (Drew-60). Something I sometimes consider myself when I collect pieces that were made specifically for a therapeutic sense from both myself and others. The Netflix documentary The Darkness of La Luz Del Mundo and The MAX documentary Unveiled: Surviving La Luz Del Mundo have both also been great inspirations for the work I have been doing recently.

Art Therapy Intervention Experiential 

Things to remember before we begin… 

- The purpose of the exercise is not to produce a beautiful art product or end result. 

- The emphasis is the process of creating the art. 

- Stay mindful of your own emotions, reactions, thoughts and memories that come up as you complete the exercise. 

- Other people do not need to see or be around in this exercise. 

- When you set intentions, use “I Am” statements instead of “I Am Not”. 

- Bonus points: Engage in bilateral drawings, using both your right and left hands to draw or paint, as a way to engage both the right and left sides of the brain in this exercise. 

- Pre-Prep a space for yourself. Set up paints, markers, crayons, magazines or pictures to cut from or even better, pre-cut, to allow yourself to enter a state of flow.

After you have set up any materials you may like to use, take a moment to say or write intentions for yourself following the theme. 

The focus of today's exercise is to help process trauma on grief and loss of any kind that you’ve experienced in your life through the lens of the inside and outside self.

My Intentions for Example:

- I am always safe. 

- I have my own back. 

- I am soft even if life is hard.

1. With a paper or board of any size, find and create a space for yourself in the center. 

2. From here, create something in this space for anything that you feel represents you outside of any external influences. This could be photographs (collage), the use of colors you feel represents you, or actual symbols that are important to you. 

3. Take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to write a witness statement for yourself. Allow yourself to free write your stream of consciousness or to speak aloud the thoughts and feelings you’re experiencing in that present moment as you acknowledge the piece you made of yourself.

4. Repeat the same creative process, but now in regards to the outside space. Consider the external event, colors and feelings that are associated with it. Perhaps the way that others treat the source of trauma or how they view you or how you have changed as a result.

5. Write another witness statement about your completed artwork. Allow yourself to freely write your stream of consciousness or to speak aloud the thoughts and feelings you’re experiencing in that present moment as you acknowledge the piece you made now in regards to others. Consider your overall thoughts and feelings, as well as start to look into how the outside and inside are interacting with each other within the piece. Is there a lack of connection between the two or are they in dialogue with one another?

Hooks, Bell. Understanding Patriarchy. Louisville Anarchist Federation Federation, 2010.

Duncombe, Stephen, and Steve Lambert. The Art of Activism: Your All-Purpose Guide to Making The Impossible Possible. OR Books, 2021.

Drew, Kimberly. This Is What I Know about Art. Penguin Workshop, 2020.

Ono, Yōko, and John Lennon. Yõko Ono - Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions + Drawings. Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Perez-Osorio, Carlos, director. The Darkness Within La Luz Del Mundo. Netflix, 2023.

Tiexiera, Jennifer, director. Unveiled: Surviving La Luz Del Mundo. MAX, 2022.