Trauma, interrupted : Healing through the Visual Arts
Mike Banos
November 01, 2009
Originally published two years ago, I am reposting this article as our belated contribution to the recent 1st Dart Centre Australasia Fellowship on Trauma in Journalism held October 12-17, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand:
Advocates in the use of visual arts in healing trauma in children and adults sat down with peace journalists in Cagayan de Oro city to explore possible applications for newsmen covering conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.
Flaudette May V. Datuin, University of the Philippines Diliman associate professor of the private voluntary group House of Comfort Art Network (Art Hoc), told participants how the project grew out of workshops conducted in March 2006 with foreign artists in Mapaniqui, Pampanga and Davao.
"We have no illusions we can solve the problems of the nation," Ms. Datuin said. "In our workshops, art becomes an occasion to surface issues. Without art, issues cannot be visualized."
Alma Quinto, Art Hoc lead artist, described how visual arts becomes the medium to start the healing process with workshop participants as varied as comfort women from the Second World War and children victims of domestic violence, survivors of sexual abuse, those displaced by conflict situations and migrations, and those suffering from illnesses.
"Because trauma is ´unrepresentable,´ the artist provides the occasion and the space for dialogue and possible healing," Ms. Quinto said. "Art becomes the agency for the healing of the individual´s soul, his environment, or the sea and the land, and for healing the community and the nation."
"By channeling trauma into a form of social communication between the artists and affected communities, we hope to provide the space for an encounter that shifts its focus from victimization and highly individualized suffering to collective empowerment and possible healing through the arts," Ms. Datuin added.
Lina Sagaral-Reyes, Palanca award-winning journalist whose Mindanao Women Writers, Inc. co-sponsored the workshop with the Cagayan de Oro Press Club and Inside Mindanao Online, said the idea of using visual arts to help traumatized journalists jump-starts their own personal healing process occurred to her after meeting Cris Rollo, chairman of the subcommittee for visual arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and former president of the Oro Art Guild.
"I thought that using the visual arts as a healing therapy could also work for journalists traumatized by their frequent and extended immersion in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao during the course of their work like it did for other clients of trauma, interrupted," Ms. Reyes said. "I thought we should know more about trauma in the context of issues in the community and global concern, for journalists to take care of themselves in reporting terrorism, disasters and conflict in the context of peace journalism," she added.
Herbie Gomez, Mindanao´s Gold Star Daily editor, talked about his firsthand experience with how potent the medium of visual arts can be when he participated in the first exercise of free form shapes using a plain bond paper and multi-colored pens.
"I was surprised at the many subliminal things I and my fellow participants saw in my free-form drawing which I thought I was drawing at the spur of the moment," he said.
"In a land where journalists face violence daily not only in conflict-affected areas but their own personal hell in the home, the workplace or the various communities they interact with in the course of their profession, it´s comforting to note how something as mundane as a blank sheet of paper and your children´s box of crayons could be such a powerful tool to heal the self, the land and the sea," another participant remarked.
"I never thought of myself as a visual artist," said Online Mindanao editor Ellen Red. "Thank you for making me open up to my fellow journalists what I truly am."
Art Hoc has conducted workshops in places as diverse as Samar and Leyte, and Bulacan. In its latest swing through Mindanao, the group worked with groups as varied as peace journalists in Cagayan de Oro, the Ranao Children´s Foundation in Iligan, Moro women in Marawi and schoolchildren in Camiguin.
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Advocates in the use of visual arts in healing trauma in children and adults sat down with peace journalists in Cagayan de Oro city to explore possible applications for newsmen covering conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.
Flaudette May V. Datuin, University of the Philippines Diliman associate professor of the private voluntary group House of Comfort Art Network (Art Hoc), told participants how the project grew out of workshops conducted in March 2006 with foreign artists in Mapaniqui, Pampanga and Davao.
"We have no illusions we can solve the problems of the nation," Ms. Datuin said. "In our workshops, art becomes an occasion to surface issues. Without art, issues cannot be visualized."
Alma Quinto, Art Hoc lead artist, described how visual arts becomes the medium to start the healing process with workshop participants as varied as comfort women from the Second World War and children victims of domestic violence, survivors of sexual abuse, those displaced by conflict situations and migrations, and those suffering from illnesses.
"Because trauma is ´unrepresentable,´ the artist provides the occasion and the space for dialogue and possible healing," Ms. Quinto said. "Art becomes the agency for the healing of the individual´s soul, his environment, or the sea and the land, and for healing the community and the nation."
"By channeling trauma into a form of social communication between the artists and affected communities, we hope to provide the space for an encounter that shifts its focus from victimization and highly individualized suffering to collective empowerment and possible healing through the arts," Ms. Datuin added.
Lina Sagaral-Reyes, Palanca award-winning journalist whose Mindanao Women Writers, Inc. co-sponsored the workshop with the Cagayan de Oro Press Club and Inside Mindanao Online, said the idea of using visual arts to help traumatized journalists jump-starts their own personal healing process occurred to her after meeting Cris Rollo, chairman of the subcommittee for visual arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and former president of the Oro Art Guild.
"I thought that using the visual arts as a healing therapy could also work for journalists traumatized by their frequent and extended immersion in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao during the course of their work like it did for other clients of trauma, interrupted," Ms. Reyes said. "I thought we should know more about trauma in the context of issues in the community and global concern, for journalists to take care of themselves in reporting terrorism, disasters and conflict in the context of peace journalism," she added.
Herbie Gomez, Mindanao´s Gold Star Daily editor, talked about his firsthand experience with how potent the medium of visual arts can be when he participated in the first exercise of free form shapes using a plain bond paper and multi-colored pens.
"I was surprised at the many subliminal things I and my fellow participants saw in my free-form drawing which I thought I was drawing at the spur of the moment," he said.
"In a land where journalists face violence daily not only in conflict-affected areas but their own personal hell in the home, the workplace or the various communities they interact with in the course of their profession, it´s comforting to note how something as mundane as a blank sheet of paper and your children´s box of crayons could be such a powerful tool to heal the self, the land and the sea," another participant remarked.
"I never thought of myself as a visual artist," said Online Mindanao editor Ellen Red. "Thank you for making me open up to my fellow journalists what I truly am."
Art Hoc has conducted workshops in places as diverse as Samar and Leyte, and Bulacan. In its latest swing through Mindanao, the group worked with groups as varied as peace journalists in Cagayan de Oro, the Ranao Children´s Foundation in Iligan, Moro women in Marawi and schoolchildren in Camiguin.
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