Revolutionizing Mental Health and Human Services
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Basia Mosinski, LCAT, ATR-BC, MA, MFA
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Trauma, Healing and Media Arts in Therapy
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Started this discussion. Last reply by Basia Mosinski, LCAT, ATR-BC, MA, MFA Aug. 20, 2008.
www.mediaartstherapy.ning.com
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Basia
I have often had people ask me about my work, What does this or that paiting mean? and I always answer What does it means to you?
I am of the school that once a piece leaves the hands of the artist/poet/filmaker it is no longer their story but takes on the many lives that come about as it is trascribed through the mind and experiences of the viewer.
With that said, what you have described so succinctly, does hold the same for me. This piece has had several lives via different media and thouhg the same basic image was used, it meant something different each time.
When I first did it, it was mearly about the fracture (mental/emotional/social), then it became about sudden and quick emergency reparation, then about hope and now about acceptance of all the parts that make up the whole and the beauty of the
(mis)alignment of the parts.
Ultimately it is a self portait. No one is obliged to get it but as you have, I thank you for your clear sight and affirmation.
-janice
Let me tell you a little about myself. I am currently on a board of Meaningful Minds of Louisiana a state wide consumer organization for mental health. I have also just form my own business for mental health consumer called Positive People with Powerful Minds, which is an
empowering the consumer through inspirations.
Lora
When I think of "truth" in the therapeutic process, I think of the Buddhist concept of "true nature". In the application which I propose, the therapeutic process supports the revealing of an individual's most essential self---their true nature. I do not mean to say that this is a neat, or clear process, nor that the result is one of clarity and without ambiguity.
Ambiguity and change are inherent in the nature of being human.
Thus, these qualities, are part of the "truth" of our nature.
It is part of our core.
Maybe truth is the wrong word. Maybe"core" is more descriptive.
I do believe that truth and beauty have a reciprocal relationship in human beings.
I believe that all humans. at their core, will be found to be beautiful.
Of course this implies a value judgment.
So now I am speaking of on the subject of beauty , and here again, I believe that there is a level of beauty that is deeper than space and time--a "core " beauty, which relates to truth and love.....
So , if in the therapeutic process an individual makes contact with her heart and penetrates the layers that are found there, and expresses the emotional content, and is meet with affirmation and safety, she may gradually begin to discern the ground of her being, beneath the layers.
Here, at the ground of one's being, one may experience freedom, and have the empowering sensation that one can change one's life.
I think that this is hugely important.
Knowing that oneself is free to change is a liberating experience and critical in the healing process.
I don't think that it necessarily occurs always on the conscious level, but I believe that even subconsciously, (archaic terms, I know) there needs to be the realization that change is possible--freedom exists--in order for healing to take place.
As an artist, every mark on a paper that I make affirms my freedom.
Maybe things seem much less grand than this, but no act, however small, is insignificant.
And I agree with you so completely in your statement that "the image can hold a lot more ambiguity than words". Yes! How wonderful!
Thank you, Basia, for allowing me to ramble on in this discussion.
Meghan
I just read your essay about doing video art therapy with a homeless population and I viewed two sort video pieces, including the one about Michael. I really related to that one--the tardive dyskinesia--and it said so much......--he said so much.....
Do you know Gladys Agell, ATR ? I worked with her one summer in Vermont and we remain friends to this day.
She helped me release the defenses so that my drawings took on a much more immediate, emotional impetus.
Of course it was a storm that I was not prepared for, but it was essential for the artistic path that I needed to follow.
Recently I was involved in a video--documentary project being done by Jan Haacken, Ph.D from Portland State University on the mental health system and the guilty except for insanity plea that we have here in Oregon. I was interviewed and the plan is to use images of my art while the interview is played. the work should be finished hopefully
by spring 2009.
I think about the quality of "truth " when I think about what you are doing in your work.
How does on show what is true?
What is true?
Can it be shown?
does it always change from moment to moment?
Is it possible for a short piece to successfully "capture" an element of "truth" that is beyond the constraints of time and maybe even space?
Is this a goal?
Can this be a gaol ,or does it then become too self conscious?
Lots of questions.......
Well, that is enough for now I suppose...
ah , yes, many questions....thank you
I would like the opportunity to share my own work with you.
some of my work is found at www.meghancaughey.com
I am currently writing a manuscript titled, "The Practice of Beauty"
which is about the transformational journey of making art in the recovery process. It is personal.
Thank you.
Meghan Caughey MA, MFA
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