The Choices I Make as an Artist-Researcher-Therapist (ART)

The choices I make as a researcher: what to research, who will collaborate in it, how, when, where and why – can all be seen through my critical perspectives and most probably stem from my social identity. For my initial study pilot I chose Arts Based Research (ABR) as the epistemological method principals integrated with phenomenological heuristic constructs, for the time being. This means that I choose to bring a personal, subjective voice that will attempt to "further the relevance… of other ways of knowing… within society" (McNiff, 2013, p. 7). It also means that I must expose myself to others, which requires humility. Another choice I make through the ABR paradigm is the language with which information is created, gathered, and analyzed, and the point where this information becomes knowledge; and for whom. Koch and Weidinger-von der Recke (2009) wrote: "telling one's own story is the first step on the way to a new story" (p. 289).

The story I would like to tell derives from knowledge I inherited as a girl, growing up in the shadow of my older brother, in which art and art-creation was central to my development. My patriarchal family paved the path for my aspiration to prove myself equally talented and qualified - just as the men in my family were considered to be. Sajnani (2012) referred to our responsibility as expressive therapists to empower clients by helping them recognize "different kinds of power that they possess" (p. 188). It was not until I became an adult that I better understood the origins of this motivation and drive. I discovered the powerful artist within me and the ocean of opportunities that art-making facilitates. Art knows no differences in gender, race, age or religion. Art portrays all emotions. It does not distinguish healthy from disabled, rich from poor, pungent from bland. Art is a language for all and its palette enables endless opportunities for self-expression, self-exploration, accommodating constant development and change. Art-making "like speech and tool making… could be used to define our species" (Malchiodi, 2012, p. 6).

I ask myself if and how my responsibilities might change depending on the hat I choose to wear. When I wear the hat of a scholar, mid-aged Caucasian female mother, involved in a heterosexual relationship with a male, do I represent people with a similar status? Are they more likely to be interested and affected by my work? And when I wear the hat of an Artist Researcher Therapist (ART), situated in a certain city, a country, a land at a certain time, and offering a therapeutic space for couples, do my responsibilities change? As Sue and Sue (2012) noted when "dealing with real human experiences" (p. 6) cognitive and intellectual understanding is not enough. It has become clear to me that even the slightest movement in my viewpoint will indeed make a difference, throughout the research process.

To Be

In present tense

be simple, be clear, be pungent

To Listen

In silence, to a rhythmic heart-beat

With veneration to frazzled muscles stretching

To Breathe

Cool air that penetrates

My mouth, my trachea, my chest, my veins

To Focus

On the tension

Between the flesh, the bones, and that beneath

To Crave

For more to happen

For ends to meet, and wish the same for seperation

Yet, still, remain.

I am interested in exploring arts and art-making and their relation to intimacy in the therapeutic space for couples. The systems theory is grounded in my clinical work with families and couples, in which patients are perceived in relation to their communities. This philosophy will form the aesthetic structure for my pilot research process. The core of my exploration involves a person. Any person from any culture, anywhere. This person is the first participant. To assure integrity, this person will be me. A mid-aged female scholar and mother involved in a heterosexual relationship, living in central Israel. I will call this person Lev (which is Hebrew for heart). The second participant and co-researcher of my study will be the arts, and art-making. For the convenience of this paper I will call this participant M. The interaction between Lev and M. and their relationship will constitute phase one of the pilot process. May (2012) wrote: "By allowing myself to consider a personal cosmology inspired by “Other” and pre-patriarchal worldviews, I embrace … a sense of balance and empowerment and hope to share this illumination through the exhibition of my art and through my writing" (p. 7).

Phase two of my research pilot will involve four participants: a couple involved in a long-term romantic relationship, the arts, and the researcher. Similar to the first phase, the interaction between the four co-researchers and their relationships will be reflected upon, and then analyzed. "Dialogue and interplay… Conflict as well as affection propel the process" (McNiff, 1992). Patients may feel that they cannot control their partner's behavior or their own, but they can feel a synchrony in the movement of their bodies and have a sense of ownership of their work during the creative process. "I can complete works of art that I begin" wrote Kapitan (2003, p. 205), which provided a sense of control; an empowering sensation. "Art is a natural sensory mode of expression because it involves touch, smell, and other senses within the experience" (Malchiodi, 2012, p. 21).

As the natural emanation of any art-work, many questions and unpredictable dilemmas will accompany this challenge. What parts of 's Lev's cultural background will be invited to phase one of my exploration? What aspects of M's characteristics will be most informing with regard to Lev's development? To intimacy? Will any of these change in the second phase of the pilot? One of my research goals is to look at intimacy through a renewed lens that allows me to see true color. For that, I need to pull it away from the sexual romantic side of the bed. Placing the tabooed intimacy into the spotlight on stage can increase awareness of a marginal and suppressed subject within therapy. I am intrigued by what can happen when arts are invited into the relationship space, and I hope this pilot can offer a tangible platform for new knowledge to emerge.

About the video:

This beautiful ABC News published video forms a brilliant use of art to broadcast the socialist message Love Has No Labels, which denotes power differences and encourages multiculturalism and equality in the world.

(Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu0eKSkn0MI)

References:

Kapitan, L. (2003). Re-enchanting art therapy: Transformational practices for restoring creative vitality. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas

Koch, S. C., & Weidinger-von der Recke, B. (2009). Traumatised refugees: An integrated dance and verbal therapy approach. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 36(5), 289-296. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2009.07.002

Malchiodi, C. A. (2012). Handbook of art therapy (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

May, D. C. (2012). Personal archaeology: An autoethnographic illumination of a late-blooming feminist artist (1512641 M.A.). Western Carolina University, Ann Arbor. Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text database.

McNiff, S. (1992). Art as medicine : creating a therapy of the imagination (1st ed.). Boston, New York: Shambhala; Distributed in the U.S. by Random House.

McNiff, S. (2013). Introduction: A critical focus on art-based research. Journal of Applied Arts & Health, 4(1), 5-12. doi: 10.1386/jaah.4.1.5_1

Sajnani, N. (2012). Response/ability: Imagining a critical race feminist paradigm for the creative arts therapies. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 39(3), 186-191.

Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2012). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons

#choices #intimacy #researcherresponsibilities #projectconceptualization