Exploring Trauma Through Art
The Art Lens.
Art is restorative in nature. The act of creating something, of investing in something that engages the senses and whose purpose is not based in mere productivity, is profoundly impactful. No matter what time in history, whether in times of great difficulty or great prosperity and growth, artists were actively and intentionally creating. Even during the time of the black plague when things looked incredibly bleak, when the plague ravaged Europe and had taken out 30-50% of the entire population, artists were holding onto hope. Their craft changed with the times and was able to capture, to reflect, this difficult period. They didn’t stop even when there was horror around them. They used it, working out their sorrows on the page. Art naturally has a contemplative component, one that wrestles with deep questions and meaning.
In his book Culture Care, Makoto Fujimura tells a story about a time when he and his wife were so poor that they had to ration food and had no cash left. As he was consumed with stress about what to do financially, his wife Judy walked in with a bouquet of flowers. When he got frustrated and criticized her for buying flowers when they did not have enough money for their food, she replied, “Our souls need to eat too” (Fujimura, 2017). Art is contemplative in nature. It considers the sublime and creative side of life while also asking something of a person. The individual must decide what to invest their thought, emotion, and time into. What is created usually ties into beliefs, values, and thoughts about life. Art can be about the physical from a distance, but it almost always asks more of the internal sphere. When people create, they do so out of their thoughts and their inner life, and often with time their art begins to hold more and more of their internal world: passions, difficulties, beliefs, and all.
Art is not always beautiful. As much as art looks to beauty for deep and substantial mending properties, art also has to grapple with the reality of darkness and difficulty. Because of this, there needs to be a move towards a newfound acceptance of art that is a picture of wrestling, especially when it is nestled in the context of therapy. Because of the fallen nature of our world, not all things are beautiful or pleasing to the eye. Hard and ugly things exist and are strewn all through our reality. Sometimes experiences can have painful associations in a very tangible and visual field of our mind which can be fleshed out in an honest depiction of struggle that is often transformative. Often we push to see resolve or something that makes us “feel good,” but it’s important to make a place for those unfinished and hurting parts of ourselves as well.
The Trauma Lens.
Trauma is often incredibly complex and involves a variety of different systems. It weaves itself through the physiological sphere as well as the emotional, spiritual, mental, and social. It is also convoluted because there are endless possibilities of origination and impact. The complex nature of trauma often calls for complex and malleable solutions. Among these solutions are various therapies which have been long-standing approaches to dealing with trauma. Through utilizing art in therapy, individuals who suffer from any number of issues might find relief and a better understanding of their trauma. This can happen as they are taken through a healing process using creative tools which tap into their internal world. Once the individual allows themselves to interact with the medium, the trauma can be processed and reshaped. As Francis Schaeffer put it in his book, How Should We Then Live, “People are unique in the inner life of the mind – what they are in their thought world determines how they act. This is true of their value systems and it is true of their creativity… The results of their thought world flow through their fingers… into the external world. That is true of Michelangelo’s chisel…” Trauma is processed and reshaped through the creative act which often places the inner life onto paper.
The Neuro Lens.
Trauma is overwhelming to the system. When an individual experiences something traumatic it is often too much for the brain to hold or process at the time. This is why trauma often leaves a trail of dissociation, or a disconnection from reality in some way. When we are experiencing a traumatic event, our sympathetic nervous system kicks into high gear in order to protect us, which we know as the “fight, flight, or freeze” response. The amygdala, the portion of the brain which is responsible for detecting fear and preparing for emergency events, goes into overdrive and other areas of our brain essentially shut down. One of these areas that goes dark is called Broca’s area. This is the area responsible for coding experience into language. With the language center off-line and the amygdala on overdrive, these events are often recorded in the sensation and visual fields of memory (Rausch et al, 1996). This is a critical component to understanding why art and music therapies have credibility in being able to reach trauma.
“Art becomes a voice, a type of language in symbolic expression through which the person can be heard. ”
One researcher found that, “Using art to express emotion accesses both visually stored memory and body memory, as not only does it enable people to create images, but the use of art materials such as clay and paint can reconnect them to physical sensation… Some researchers have suggested that the senses of touch and sight connect directly to our brain’s fear centre” (Lusebrink, 2004). This finding is representative of why art can be an ideal approach in working with traumatic memory. In addition to the focus being placed more on interpretation and process, it’s important to note that using art in therapy is about the person. It is about their individual lived experience. Art becomes a voice, a type of language in symbolic expression through which the person can be heard. Margaret Naumberg, a passionate forerunner of art therapy, “described art as a way of stating mixed, poorly understood feelings in an attempt to bring them into clarity and order. ‘The process of art therapy is based on the recognition that man’s most fundamental thoughts and feelings, derived from the unconscious, reach expression in images rather than words” (Dalley, 2003, p. xi).
Art enhanced therapy is an investment, and a process, which looks inside the client and brings their colors, their pain, and their story to where it can be seen and cared for. It is trauma intimately and carefully displayed so as to reconcile the individual to beauty. It is a quiet exhibition to honor a person’s struggle. It is an invitation to process the things which haunt and hurt, with a view towards healing.
Toward wholeness,
Michelle Waldrop