A Dialogue with Four Seasons, (Autumn, Spring, Summer, Winter, & a hand bound journal), 2023
One of the greatest misconception about art therapy is that it is about interpreting art. Shaun McNiff (PhD, ATR), a renowned Art Therapist here in the US coined the term DI "Dialogue with Image" as a creative therapeutic process. He believes that there is an autonomy within the images we create. If we label and try and interpret the images, it kills its creative function to provide its intrinsic qualities. These qualities are what will be given when we open ourselves to dialogue with the images we create. “Personifying images, gestures, and other artistic expressions enables them to act as ‘agencies’ of transformation rather than simply ‘illustrations’ of the psyches of their makers.” (McNiff, 2004, p. 85)
This may sound a bit odd to some, but do you remember the last time you were standing in front of an artwork in either a gallery, museum or artspace? What do you normally do when you look at an artwork? Do you try to understand it by judging what it's trying to convey? Do you look at it and wonder how its being made, or do you immediately jump to conclusion of what category it falls under?
I had just finished dialoging with four paintings I created during 2019-2020 when I first moved to Northern Michigan. This year 2023, I moved back to Northern Michigan, and a synchronistic event happened where I was invited to exhibit my artwork in a small group show. The title of the show was called Art as Memory: Visual and Written. I saw this as an opportunity to take these four paintings out of storage, and have a deep dialogue with them. I never had a chance to truly comprehend what I had went through since I was moving so much for the past 4 years. It gave me a chance to really look at them with a fresh pair of eyes.
When I first moved here from Hong Kong 4 years ago, from a city of 8 million people to a small town of 100(?) It was a complete shock to both my outer being and inner core. Everything was an exact opposite of what I'm use to. I still remember how my ears were ringing so badly when I first arrived, because it was so quiet here in the woods contrasting to the noise pollution in Hong Kong. And how I couldn't sleep at night, because it was so dark, and the only light I can see is the moon light or stars in the sky. The concrete ground became soil and dirt. Crowds of people became towering trees. There are more animals here than it is human. My five senses were reset. Being so far away from home, and knowing no one, I had nowhere to escape to, no false identity to hide behind. I had to face myself in solitude for the very first time. And during this time, I created artwork of the only thing I can see and experience: Nature and the Four Seasons. Since we do not have distinct four seasons in Hong Kong, being here in Northern Michigan is absolutely magical, as I get to witness how the season changes overtime.
Each season holds a dear memory in my heart, and I start with the memory and the feeling/emotion that it contains, as I begin this deep dialogue, a conversation between my heart and the paintings. I ask each painting questions, and wait for it to answer me, I asked, "How and what were you feeling when you captured that moment?", "Why these colors, forms, sizes and lines, do they have significant meaning?", "What was the memory that was embedded within them?", "How did your emotions move through you in that particular season?", and "When did these experiences start to grab a hold of your soul?" As these questions were being asked, words start to fill in the silence. The whole process was cathartic. It felt as if each season started to have life in them. I decided to use a typewriter (my favourite Olympia) and typed the entire dialogue out and hand bound it with one single thread. To bind it was part of the therapeutic process, because it completes the journey.
The questions were important, because it guided me to look at the artwork as a whole, and instead of reading it on a surface level, I traveled deep into each painting. Every line, form, size, colors has its aesthetic quality and psychological occurences* (psychology of aesthetics) that needed conversing. Such as Autumn, the silhouette of the tall barren tree was not filled, but the small fallen leafs were heavy in exuberant colors. In Spring, the poppy was so densed in colors and texture, its intensity absorbs its soft surrounding, commemorating a feeling of lost and rebirth; and Summer has its glossy glaze of dancing colors in pure form, while being held by cold whiteness and grey graphite underneath; the eerie Winter scene of trees that seems to be holding hands, underlaid with pastel colors, suggesting internal conflicts and emotions that are about to break through. Every little detail counts, from the texture, color, lines, forms, composition, contrast, and even the brushe strokes, the materials chosen, frames and surfaces that they were being created on, are all invited into the dialogue. Nothing is being missed, for everything that the artwork is created in, is essential.
(Creative process of how the paintings were made: Autumn, Spring, Summer, Winter, typewriting corner, 2020)
That is the power of dialoguing with art. It brings every aspect of the artwork into consideration, and to be perceived as if they are a living, breathing entity that requires us to look deep into. It is like dialoguing with someone, you do not see the only on surface level, but when you converse with them, you travel into their inner being, you watch their every gesture, movements, expressions and presence, you listen to their tone of voice, their pauses and silences. The therapeutic effect comes from connecting with the artwork personally. It creates an inner-dialogue within the artist, that helps them process what they have been through. By completing the artwork, then the dialogue, it seals the therapeutic process into a full circle by signifiying the experiences into wholeness.
The Dialogue with Four Seasons, allowed me to discover that it is here in Northern Michigan that I began my self-discovery journey. Each season allowed me to face myself deeply, where I learn to sit with distant wounds, and let go of my past self.
So next time, when you look at an artwork either you created or someone else did, try asking it questions, be curious of its aesthetic qualities, and dive deep into its materials being used....for depth is already and always will be on the surface, its just the matter of whether you want to go deep into it or not.
Peace & Love,
AMA
References:
McNiff, S. (2004). Art heals: How creativity cures the soul. Boston: Shambhala.
McNiff, S. (1992). Art as medicine: Creating a therapy of the imagination. Boston: Shambhala.