A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study of Community Mural Making and Social Action Art Therapy

Abstract

Through a hermeneutic phenomenological study of interview data from 8 community artists, the author sought to discover commonalities and differences in the worldviews and philosophies of self that underlie community mural making as they relate to art therapy as social action and art therapy practice within a traditional Western cultural framework. Using qualitative methodology, the author explored an understanding of the relationships—metaphorical, philosophical, and actual—between community mural making and art therapy as social action, and their critique of dominant cultural narratives and assumptions. Art therapists may align their work with larger social and cultural purposes through awareness of cultural paradigms and the underlying philosophies that drive them.

Acknowledgments

Editor's Note: Erica Rossetto, MPS, is a creative arts therapist in the greater New York, NY, area.