Art Therapy And Political Violence

With accounts from Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Israel and South Africa, this book vividly illustrates the therapeutic power of art making and art therapy in helping individuals, families and communities cope with experiences of political violence.

This dissertation, "Inhabited Studio: Art Therapy and Mindfulness With Survivors of Political Violence" by Debra, Kalmanowitz, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: The objective of this study is to understand the ways in which art therapy and mindfulness meditation form a working model specific to the context of political violence and refugees. This is a qualitative phenomenological study based on the social constructivist paradigm. Twelve refugees in Hong Kong from multiple cultures took part in two intensive full two-day art therapy and mindfulness meditation workshops over the space of eight days. In an art therapy studio (later called the Inhabited Studio) participants engaged in art making that stimulated imagination and in mindfulness meditation practice. The research looks at how participants responded to the approach, what their perceptions were and what they found useful. Different aspects of the Inhabited Studio appealed to participants based on their specific worldview, culture, religion, and coping style. Responses to the Inhabited Studio are organized into seven thematic clusters: five of these are organized in two broad categories composed of personal elements (memory, identity) and mediating aspects (emotional/self-regulation, communication, imagination) and the final two, resilience and worldview, span both categories. Participants found the Inhabited Studio culturally compatible and some of the acquired skills helpful in times of stress, indicating the contribution of this combination to enhancing coping and to building resilience. Subjects: Political refugees - Counseling of Meditation Art therapy

This dissertation, "Inhabited Studio: Art Therapy and Mindfulness With Survivors of Political Violence" by Debra, Kalmanowitz, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: The objective of this study is to understand the ways in which art therapy and mindfulness meditation form a working model specific to the context of political violence and refugees. This is a qualitative phenomenological study based on the social constructivist paradigm. Twelve refugees in Hong Kong from multiple cultures took part in two intensive full two-day art therapy and mindfulness meditation workshops over the space of eight days. In an art therapy studio (later called the Inhabited Studio) participants engaged in art making that stimulated imagination and in mindfulness meditation practice. The research looks at how participants responded to the approach, what their perceptions were and what they found useful. Different aspects of the Inhabited Studio appealed to participants based on their specific worldview, culture, religion, and coping style. Responses to the Inhabited Studio are organized into seven thematic clusters: five of these are organized in two broad categories composed of personal elements (memory, identity) and mediating aspects (emotional/self-regulation, communication, imagination) and the final two, resilience and worldview, span both categories. Participants found the Inhabited Studio culturally compatible and some of the acquired skills helpful in times of stress, indicating the contribution of this combination to enhancing coping and to building resilience. Subjects: Political refugees - Counseling of Meditation Art therapy

Witnessing cruelty scars our psyche for life, and the emotional pain and triggers remain untouched and keep us in limbo between two split selves, victim and survivor. This book is a self-discovery and self-healing process for all witnesses to cruelty which makes all of us. This book reveals the roles of religion and politics which intentionally create fear and confusion in mass. Any act of political and religious violence not only creates psychological scars and devastation in specific targeted group but also it hurts all the witnesses from around the world who are exposed to news through media. This book creates awareness and provides healing tools which leads to revelation of old confused abode of a witness, it frees us from helplessness and hopelessness stance and empowers us to bring upon change in our consciousness and as the result in our outside world.

Investigating art practitioners’ responses to violence, this book considers how artists have used art practices to rethink concepts of violence and non-violence. It explores the strategies that artists have deployed to expose physical and symbolic violence through representational, performative and interventional means. It examines how intellectual and material contexts have affected art interventions and how visual arts can open up critical spaces to explore violence without reinforcement or recuperation. Its premises are that art is not only able to contest prevailing norms about violence but that contemporary artists are consciously engaging with publics through their practice in order to do so. Contributors respond to three questions: how can political violence be understood or interpreted through art? How are publics understood or identified? How are art interventions designed to shift, challenge or respond to public perceptions of political violence and how are they constrained by them? They discuss violence in the everyday and at state level: the Watts’ Rebellion and Occupy, repression in Russia, domination in Hong Kong, the violence of migration and the unfolding art activist logic of the sigma portfolio. Asking how public debates can be shaped through the visual and performing arts and setting taboos about violence to one side, the volume provides an innovative approach to a perennial issue of interest to scholars of international politics, art and cultural studies.

This dissertation, "Inhabited Studio: Art Therapy and Mindfulness With Survivors of Political Violence" by Debra, Kalmanowitz, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: The objective of this study is to understand the ways in which art therapy and mindfulness meditation form a working model specific to the context of political violence and refugees. This is a qualitative phenomenological study based on the social constructivist paradigm. Twelve refugees in Hong Kong from multiple cultures took part in two intensive full two-day art therapy and mindfulness meditation workshops over the space of eight days. In an art therapy studio (later called the Inhabited Studio) participants engaged in art making that stimulated imagination and in mindfulness meditation practice. The research looks at how participants responded to the approach, what their perceptions were and what they found useful. Different aspects of the Inhabited Studio appealed to participants based on their specific worldview, culture, religion, and coping style. Responses to the Inhabited Studio are organized into seven thematic clusters: five of these are organized in two broad categories composed of personal elements (memory, identity) and mediating aspects (emotional/self-regulation, communication, imagination) and the final two, resilience and worldview, span both categories. Participants found the Inhabited Studio culturally compatible and some of the acquired skills helpful in times of stress, indicating the contribution of this combination to enhancing coping and to building resilience. Subjects: Political refugees - Counseling of Meditation Art therapy

Angelic demons : the capricious creators -- Continuing the dance : how art therapy both reveals and mitigates violence and aggression.