This book explores how creativity and the expressive arts can be therapeutic for refugees and survivors of natural disasters, poverty, war, pandemic and genocide.
Artists and therapists behind group art projects worldwide reveal how art enables people to come together, find their voices and learn how to narrate their stories after traumatic experiences. They offer insight into the challenges they encountered and explain the theory, curricula and practice of their approaches. The case studies reflect a wide range of projects, including work with survivors of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa, Syrian war refugees in Jordan and survivors of the tsunami in Sri Lanka.
Market: Art therapists and students of art therapy. Also of interest to artists, community/social workers, other therapists, international developers, public health workers, NGOs and grass roots activists.
1. Introduction. 2. Mapping Personal and Socio-Political Trauma. 3. How Creativity and the Expressive Arts Transform Individual Trauma. 4. How Creativity and the Expressive Arts Transform Social Trauma. 5. Stories from Philadelphia, Kenya, and Rwanda, with Survivors of Poverty, Inner City Violence, and Genocide. Lily Yeh, The Barefoot Artists Organisation. 6. Stories from South Africa, with Survivors of Poverty, Patriarchy, and the HIV/AIDS Pandemic. Dr Carol Baker Hofymeyr, The Keiskama Trust Art Project. 7. Stories from Palestine, Israel, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, India, France and Greece, with Survivors of Poverty and Ideological Violence, and Those Living in Refugee Camps. Max Levi Freider, Artolution. 8. Stories from Canada and Sri Lanka, with Survivors of Ethnic Conflict, Religious Intolerance, Tsunami, and the Effects of Globalization. Paul Hogan, The Butterfly Peace Garden. 9. Stories from Canada, with Survivors of Cultural Genocide, Neo-Colonialist Racism, and Inter-Generational Trauma. Dr Sally Adnams Jones, TransformArta Consulting. 10. Conclusions about Healing Trauma and Learning to Transform through Creativity. About the Contributors.
A testament to the power of imagination, the creative process and the arts for individual, community and social healing. Sally Adnams Jones brings together examples of idiosyncratic approaches while at the same time presents a broad spectrum of common perspectives. This book introduces readers to the challenges and inspirations that are inherent in socially engaged work.
