>> Cultivating self and mutual care in the face of uncertainty, losses, violence. >> Call to action: Grappling with complicity and responsibility.
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Amanda Gee (ON)
When the last issue of Envisage came out we could not have even predicted what was to come. These times have left me with deep gratitude. Thank you to all of the essential and front-line workers. Thank you to all of our dedicated volunteers who keep CATA-ACAT moving forward even in these difficult times. Thank you to our membership for being a part of the organization and for providing input and feedback.
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Patricia Ki (ON)
Like many, I have been thinking about how I can be made accountable for my complicity in oppression. What does it mean to take actions, or what forms can our actions take? Might Envisage be a place of action also?
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Phuong Nguyen (ON)
During my time working at the shelter I noticed that flowers often find themselves inside. Some flowers are found on the street and brought into the space, some are donations, and some are gifts from one community member to another. Regardless of where they came from, I’ve always seen them as an act of love.
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Shae Anthony (BC)
It is plain to see that “unskilled workers” have kept us safe through the pandemic by putting their own lives on the line. As businesses slowly begin to reopen, my hope is that we can move forward in a new way. This new way would include ensuring all people earn a fair living wage. It would include time and space for creativity and rest, especially for frontline workers who have kept us going.
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Chioma Anah (Maryland, USA)
Making Space: Art and Social Justice Advocacy with Dr. Anah
Current data shows a disproportionate burden of illness and deaths amongst racial and ethnic minority groups. Blacks/African American make up most of the deaths from COVID-19. Health disparities African Americans face when dealing with coronavirus are often due to unequal economic and social conditions, which have made it difficult to access resources and adequately respond to the outbreak of the virus.
Katie Hanczaryk (NS)
Canada has had the worst shooting in history in our small province of Nova Scotia. Already feeling vulnerable, alone and afraid, we were unable to mourn together publicly because of COVID. Yesterday, there was a plane crash and we lost some more bright youth of our military. With the help of Gabriella Rizkallah, Nova Scotia Art Therapy, and collaboration with the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, Mandalas4NS began, with the intention to create a response to these losses.
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Amanda Gee and Virginia Jahyu (ON)
From Trauma to Trust was opened to provide therapy to individuals with intellectual disabilities who have experienced trauma. The pandemic has created more isolation for people who are already isolated. We wanted to creatively respond to this situation by continuing to offer our drop-in arts group. By moving online, we were able to continue building a consistent, safe, and artful space.
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Jennifer Ryper, Valerie Behiery, Hedaya Aldaleel, and the CiiAT Virtual Art Therapy Clinic team
With poem shared by Lucille Proulx, founding director of CiiAT
Lee Rui Ping, Marian and Sarvatmika Rajeev (Singapore)
We present to you Outbreak Art responses from our peers. We hope to convey how COVID-19 has impacted our lives and how we have turned to creativity and art to re-centre our lives.
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Artwork by Lisa C. Gignac (ON), Caralyn Randa (BC), and Andrea Carlson (AB).
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Nicky Shaw (Freiburg, Germany)
We collected sticks and made a gratitude mobile. Every string and thread we attached together is about how much we love and miss the person that string represented.
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Lin Liu (SK)
From inside, I looked outside through my window and I felt safe. A home is like a mask. I am very grateful to have this protection to support me. I realized making masks is not only helping others but also myself. The truth behind making masks is helping me to go inside and reconnected with my own sorrow.
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Karen Stevenson (AB)
As our worlds began to close in, I was thankful I had made the decision to pull back from my art therapy practice in mid-February. I wanted time to reassess how, or if I should move forward with my work. I wanted three or four months to mull that over. Be careful what you wish for.
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Laura Brown (Washington, USA)
On March 24, when our quarantine started, I had to move out of my trailer in the state park I was living in/working at called Cape Disappointment, and rent a beach cabin further up the Peninsula. My daily photographic practice has now deepened to become about being in the same place everyday at the same time, as a way to provide structure, stability, calm, hope.
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Taylor Bourassa (ON)
When COVID-19 left the country locked indoors, paused with bated breath wondering when things would return to normal, I invited myself to complete a 30-day gratitude challenge, using photography and reflective journaling.
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Morgan Coulson (ON)
These pieces, to me, represent two phases in my emotional landscape as I move through today’s global climate. There is a darkness, and a heaviness – an “everlasting sadness,” as I wrote in my journal. But there is also a lightness, a hope for rebirth and new growth – an “everlasting sun.”
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Lisa Nackan (ON)
My daughter recently taught me how to use this animation programme on her ipad. This has been my creative self-care art release over the last few months.
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Jane Halverson (ON)
As art therapists, we utilize the process of creating artwork to support our clients in improving their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. In Jungian analysis, this creative process is central, as the psyche itself is creative.
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