Brave new voices: Students reflect on racism, discriminations, inclusivity.
Networks of guidance: Wisdoms from human and non-human mentors.
Amanda Gee (Toronto, ON)
The world is a difficult place these days and we never know what people are going through. It is a time for self-care, and for taking care of others. Caregivers, in a caring profession such as art therapy, sometimes forget to take time to care for themselves. Personally, I have been trying to spend more time outside and take in all of the growth that takes place this time of year.
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Patricia Ki (Toronto, ON)
I am grateful for this community of contributors, and the many, many contributors who have shared work with us. Because I have had the privilege to work with you, I am hopeful that our world will change, through learning, humility, imagination, and care.
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Jess Minckley (Seattle, WA)
This work was a reflection on the oppression in graduate training programs in art therapy, from the perspectives of queer, disabled, white, activist identities. It calls for greater transparency about discrimination against students from marginalized identities, and support for and amongst those with similar experiences.
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Mahesh Iyer (Singapore)
I think that creative minds, such as individuals who are drawn towards the arts therapies, cannot help but look for potentials. They are constantly looking at an object, an artwork, a client, or the world for that matter, through the potential lens of transformation. I believe that our practice empowers us to see what others may not and explore possibilities that most people would consider futile.
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Jotika Chaudhary Samant (Vancouver, BC)
As a young, queer woman of colour I helped create community art spaces because I was surrounded by brilliant artists who had so much to say — so much to interrupt — though their art. We were learning to identify the many ways in which all these oppressive institutions — the gender binary, patriarchy, heterosexism, ableism — were telling us who we should be, and we were saying “No! This is who we are, and this is what we have to say.”
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Heidi Argyle (Waterloo, ON), with artwork by Sarah Gysin (Ottawa, ON), Nancy Couture (Montreal, QC) and Renuka Sundaram (Montreal, QC).
As professionals, graduated into the world to begin practice, we quickly figure out that what we learned in school was nothing but a small nugget of what is possible and how to work; we have to hone our practice. How did we get there? Where did we begin? Who helped us? Other therapists!
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Natalie V. Bochenska (Toronto, ON)
As a professional illustrator as well as art therapist-in-training, I hope to use my privilege and audience outreach to educate people about anti-oppressive practices in the therapy room as well as in the world itself. This is a 10-image sequential post that I used on my Instagram to share what I am learning at TATI.
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Rhys Castro (Toronto, ON)
This image illustrates my call for change and advocacy for inclusive, anti-oppressive practices in the art therapy field and beyond, as well as the need for more art therapists of colour so that the needs of racialized peoples are met adequately.
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Art Therapy Conversations
Rebecca Montgomery (Vancouver, BC)
President of the Hong Kong Association of Art Therapists Bianca Lee shares with Envisage writer Rebecca Montgomery about her transnational art therapy practice with adventure partners, and ways of being that strengthen our connections with one another, our community and the world in unlearning, processing, and deconstructing global and local systems of power.
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Meghan Noonan (Mississauga, ON)
I believe that every one of us is an artist and that we all have something to express. I am passionate about spreading the message that engaging in vulnerability and creativity has the power to heal and promote self-love and connection.
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Making Space: Art and Social Justice Advocacy with Dr. Anah
Chioma Anah (Baltimore, MD)
Just a reminder that though the times may be hard, LOVE still remains.
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Artwork by Kate Moo King-Curtis, Ana Kuzmic, Amélie Blanchard, and Patricia Ki
Sharing zines created in the CATA-ACAT workshop on anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and anti-colonial practices in creative therapies. The zines may mark the conclusion of our workshop series, but we trust that they are the beginning to many positive changes in our field and in the world. We look forward to continuing our conversations and collaborations in other spaces in the near future.
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Samantha Jones (Regina, SK)
From November 2020 to May 2021, a group of individuals embarked on the journey of creating a bench to be displayed in their community, through restrictions of COVID and many changes of plans, and remained focused on the intention of strengthening support and building relationships through collaborative art-making.
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Nature’s Way
Taylor Bourassa (Ottawa, ON)
Nature’s Way is a new regular column in Envisage that explores eco-art therapy and invites practices of enhancing our relationship with the earth. In this issue, Envisage writer Taylor Bourassa shares a creative invitation that addresses the anxiety felt in reaction to our changing world through befriending a tree.
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Erica Palmer (Toronto, ON)
Western society is generally death-phobic, with ideologies of capitalism, ableism, individualism and productivity contributing to this landscape. In my work I hope to facilitate moments of peace, dignity, empowerment and community-building opportunities, and connections for people who are grieving, and for people who are dying.
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John Faul (Calgary, AB)
This article examines the way of looking at one’s own art. In this contemporary time there is a need to connect with one’s creative self more than ever. The stimulation from a dominating visual culture is overwhelming, but also offers opportunities to deepen experiences that depend on how these are viewed, grounded, and articulated.
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