Art therapy in times of conflict: supporting appreciation of diversity and difference?

As I write this, much of our world seems to be inflamed. Extreme weather conditions – a consequence of climate change – are causing risk to life and displacing many people from their homes, with the biggest impacts typically felt by those whose lives are already precarious and poorly-resourced. Interpersonal and intercultural conflict, in the form of wars and political turmoil, continues to displace and distress so many, as well as ending or limiting lives.

In the face of these significant global conflicts and crises, what can art therapy offer? The six papers in this issue of the International Journal of Art Therapy describe art-based research, practice, and the development of theory in a wide range of contexts, in very different parts of the globe; they offer insights into the experiences of art therapy service users as well as art therapists. A common thread linking all the papers in this issue is the use of image-making to deepen understanding and appreciation for similarities and differences between self, other persons, and the world around us. Which aspects of our rich and intersecting identities are unique to us as individuals, and what might be part of our shared human experience? How can the arts support us to notice, understand and celebrate these points of connection and diversity (Collier & Eastwood, 2022)?

Reviewing our actions for change

Recognition of, and appreciation for, difference, diversity and intersecting identities is at the heart of the International Journal of Art Therapy’s actions for change, which were ignited by the appointment of our inaugural Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor, Corrina Eastwood (Eastwood, 2023). In 2021, Corrina worked with the journal’s editorial board and members of the British Association of Art Therapists to identify and articulate ten specific actions that need our continued attention as we work towards diversifying all aspects of the journal. These actions, which are available to read in full on the BAAT website (BAAT, 2021), speak to the need to safeguard accessibility, inclusion and belonging for all of the journal’s stakeholders: our readers, authors, peer and expert reviewers, our group of international advisors, as well as the editorial board.

Alongside Trish Bedford, I am one of the journal’s current lead associate editors for equity, diversity and inclusion; it is with this hat on that I am delighted to report that a recent audit of the journal’s actions for change suggests we are making good headway in addressing a number of the issues initially identified for attention and development. For example, Natalia Talamagka’s article in this issue is a fabulous example of the relatively newly-introduced opinion piece category, which is designed to contribute towards ‘ … building art therapy theory, practice or policy through informed, original and differing perspectives on the normative epistemology or ontology of art therapy’ (BAAT, 2021). The journal has published four opinion pieces in the last 12 months.

As noted in our actions for change, there is an ongoing effort to review and update our records such that we have a clear picture of our reviewers’ identity markers and lived experience, so that we can better match submissions to the journal with their specialisms, interests and expertise-by-lived-experience. Our network database has now been updated and all new peer and expert reviewers are asked for this information when joining.

There is much to celebrate in relation to our actions for change, but of course there is also much work still to be done, if we are truly committed to diversifying the journal and dismantling barriers to access that emerge from unacknowledged privilege and systemic oppression. To this end, we are currently inviting all readers, reviewers, and authors to an online open consultation to review the impact of the journal’s actions for change. We want to know how you feel we are doing, what you identify as the ongoing and existing problems, and your visions for delivering, developing and strengthening our actions for change and ongoing anti-oppressive work at the journal (see the journal’s news webpage for updates).

In this Issue

There are four research papers in this issue. Mary Andrus shares an arts-based study that supported graduate art therapy students through the unexpected loss of their training programme, following the abrupt closure of the training institution. Collective storytelling and film-making offered a vehicle for these art-therapists-in-training to process and metabolise the unsettling change. For many, this community-based experience of creative reflection seems to have been a key factor in being able to process their experiences of loss due to this change and move forward with their programme of study, in its new academic home. It also gave these early career art therapists a uniquely embodied insight into the ways that creativity might support service users to make sense of their own challenges and losses.

Sharon Snir and Tami Gavron share their experience of using image-making and dialogic-reflection to enhance their practice as intercultural researchers. As Israeli art therapists interviewing Filipino women about their experiences of Typhoon Yolanda, and subsequent involvement in an art-based psychosocial group training programme, Tami and Sharon found both themselves and their interviewees experiencing anxiety within these complex, multi-layered research conversations. Inviting participants to paint with them during their interview ‘ … made a meaningful contribution to our efforts to have an intercultural encounter on even ground. The shared painting time during the interview seemed to create intimacy … so that we could learn about the other’s experience in a unique, non-verbal and personal way’.

Sarit Bar Zaken and Sophie Walsh use image-making to explore how Arab art therapists in Israel – members of a minority group in this context – go about integrating differences between their learning during training with the norms and values of the service users for whom they offer art therapy ‘on the ground’. As the authors note, ‘Art therapists who have acquired therapeutic training based on Western perceptions experience conflict or gaps between the collective culture in Arab society and the professional knowledge they have acquired’. Learning from semi-structured interviews was amplified by images that participants made to show their experience of the training process and also of their art therapy practice. As in Sharon and Tami’s study, the images seem to deepen understanding and offer additional insights that the researchers may not have reached, had they engaged with words alone during the interview process.

Andrew Christopher Wright’s research paper takes a deep dive into one service user’s experience of art therapy and reflects on how the art therapist’s response image-making during sessions supported this autistic, learning disabled participant to engage with their own art-making, communicate their concerns, and regulate emotions. ‘Stephen’ attended an interview after the end of art therapy, using the images made during his sessions to reflect on what he had enjoyed, and what had been difficult. As an autistic person with sensory processing differences, the tactile, embodied experience of art therapy had clearly offered Stephen opportunities for pleasure and sensory integration - but sometimes also activated or challenged his senses in ways that felt ‘foul’. Once again, reflections on the images made by Stephen and his art therapist deepened understanding of the material gathered through a verbal interview.

Joanne Noble and Simon Hackett’s practice paper explores the experience of service users accessing art therapy in the context of acute inpatient care for their mental health difficulties. Service users fed back that image-making in art therapy supported them, when in very distressed states, to feel calmer and listened to, express difficult feelings, and hold onto their sense of humanity in an environment that could sometimes be ‘frightening and unpredictable’. Two case examples (‘John’ and ‘Susan’) illustrate the flexible, ‘adapted approach’ (Wood, 2013) that Joanne adopted for her art therapy work with these persons, and the practice model that emerged in this particular setting. Inclusion of Susan and John’s images in the paper gives us as readers first-hand access to visual data that supports and deepens our understanding of their experience of art therapy.

Finally in this issue, Natalia Talamagka’s opinion piece draws on art history, political explorations of identity, oppression and privilege, and her own art-making to give an intersectional feminist account of how art therapy can support those experiencing abortion. Building on the work of Black feminist scholars such as Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989) and Lola Olufemi (2020), Natalia’s art-based exploration reveals how ‘self and body as a compass’ can help navigate the ambivalent feelings that often accompany and follow abortion, and how art therapy can support service users to recreate a narrative of ‘invisible loss’ through image-making. In this paper, Natalia’s photographic images speak powerfully to her own subjective experience and learning in this territory, and again give us visual access to knowledge that we might not acquire though words alone.