It's my (very Virgo) birthday in a few days and I've been feeling a mixture of not being able to catch up to this heavily socialized age, and amused by how I have been attempting to restore pieces of girlhood.

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When I entered the early years of my 20s, I related to my struggles very differently.

If I were to wear the lens of how I saw the world and myself from then, this would have been playing as a record in my head:

"I am unforgiving towards myself, coping with the fear of losing what is deemed as love and care through people pleasing.

When I struggle, I think that I am the burden. 

I have to get through this all on my own."

It's complicated because at the same time, I also know that my younger selves in my 10s and 20s have been very protective of me in the ways they knew how:
 

I made it a mission to save up financially in order to free myself from complex family dynamics (still navigating this). 

I always played the big, tough role as the eldest daughter taking care of my younger sibling.

I would always ask myself, “what else can I do” to help my loved ones, because I cared. So much.

I am so proud of how far I've come because today:

I'm in the era of doing one thing that ‘scares my family' (aka oppressive systems, culture, the authorities) everyday.

I'm in my sensitive, expansive and ‘not carrying the pain around with me’ era.

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I am coming out from a very individualist life and unlearning the harm from being socialized by oppressive systems under the guises of love and care. 

The wisdom of forgiving myself of shameful narratives I used to carry as my own burdens 

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being in relation to my struggles in a compassionate, liberatory way have saved me and…

I found sanctuary through my community's witnessing of how far I've come. 

And I wish the same for you folks too.

Sending you Virgo energy + softness + forgiveness + love,

Linda

“Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art; the art of words…the name of our beautiful reward is not profit, it is freedom.”

— Ursula Le Guin 

“This is not how a human face looks” “The proportion is not right”

At first, resistance towards making art sounds like the inner critic.

That “my drawing is not up to par so I am not an artist”. 

 

I’ve been noticing that these critiques are ideas that originated from colonialism of what art is and isn’t.

Colonization of art has changed the way we see art culturally, politically and socially. 

Under censorship and control (aka. capitalism), our creative practices has become commodified - where art should be made for profit and for some form of gain.

Art is an act of resistance

How can we start to make art for ourselves as resistance from colonialism and for joy?

How can we connect with our images and art making that isn’t based from a lens towards the fine arts?

…working with art and images as a means to resist socio-political oppression.

Anti-oppressive art therapists are working to reclaim our creative practice and decolonize art making with art therapy and contesting to structural oppression from the psychotherapy field.

Shaun McNiff wrote in his book, Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go, that “art therapists are like refugees from the art world”. I’d like to think of us as rebels of the art world instead.

So how have you been rebelling in your creative practice?

“All of that art-for-art’s-sake stuff is BS. What are these people talking about? Are you really telling me that Shakespeare and Aeschylus weren’t writing about kings? All good art is political! There is none that isn’t. 

I’m not interested in art that is not in the world. And it’s not just the narrative, it’s not just the story; it’s the language and the structure and what’s going on behind it.”

―Toni Morrison

Some forms of art as resistance I have been working with are: 

• Making zines: a form of self-publishing art that came from feminist, activist movements popularized from the 80s. When I first started working as an art therapist, I created a workshop called, Zine Therapy (I was obsessed with making them). Zines are easy to distribute, low budget, and the content is filtered through the creator’s POV. My current faves are by Bianca ✨

• Cartoons and memes: sometimes opinionated, other times sensitive, maybe brightly coloured or humorous, through a critical lens through doodles/animations or storytelling with images … like my friend's work by John! ✨

• Clay/pottery: when I play with this earthy medium, themes around politics of the body and ‘smashing’ the patriarchy come up (💁‍♀️to get those air bubbles out). I love the meditative and trance-like feeling when I’m on the wheel… the way this medium holds memory and can be both delicate and forgiving—like healing with trauma.

If you wanted to share your thoughts, feel free to email me at linda@deciphercounselling.com.

Save this practice and come back to it for another day. If you know someone who may like this, share this blog post with them!

Thanks so much for being here :-)