Artist credit: Alina Camiller @44Spoons
Written by Alina Camiller
Art therapy comes in all shapes and sizes and as Art Therapists, we’re trained to expect the unexpected.
My sessions at WAGEC (Women’s and Girls Emergency Centre) in Redfern are just that. I never know what or who to expect. I prepare sessions but how we spend our 2 hours together is always driven by the participants… whether it be one or many.
My sessions are held straight after a community lunch and while the women enjoy their feast, we chat whilst I unpack the tools and materials for the session. These women are a mixed bag and their expectations for the sessions range from enjoying the connections in the room and the flow state that is achieved through the art process…to the expectation of producing something they are proud of and dislike the childish nature of some tasks…and feel very uncomfortable with the unknown. There’s also the personalities that are present within any group setting…and you can see and feel the heightened responses by all the women due to the trauma that they have faced. These sessions are a LOT.
Do I question my ability to run these sessions and hold the space for these women? Of course! I get scared and excited and nervous each time I head down the stairs into a new session. As I was sharing my latest WAGEC sessions in supervision, I added watercolour in strokes across the page. Without realising it, the page became quite wet so when I added some crayon in harsh jerks, the page ripped. At this point, without realising it, I picked at the torn paper and enjoyed the transfer of the colours beyond my initial artwork. My beautiful supervisor helped me to see that I was responding beautifully to the ruptures within the group and even though I was uncomfortable, I wasn’t running away.
Art therapy is beautiful and bewildering and quite magical. Through the power of my own art therapy, I was able to see that in and amongst the chaos, connections and resilience was being built within the group and this was due to the safe space that had been created, and that felt good.
Alina Camiller
Artist + Art Therapist
