Photo by Tim Arterbury on Unsplash.com
“Creativity...involves
the power to originate, to break away from the existing ways of looking at
things, to move freely in the realm of the imagination, to create and recreate
worlds fully in one's mind-while supervising all this with a critical inner
eye.”- Oliver Sacks
Introduction
The creative arts have much to offer to feminism. Creative feminism
might include arts-based research methods, feminist art therapy, the
participatory arts, or the general use of arts for activism projects.
Some of my most memorable feminist activities have integrated the
creative arts. I once facilitated a creative narrative workshop at a feminist
conference. In this workshop, feminists deconstructed oppressive social
stories, which I provided in the form of magazines, children’s books, and
printed advertisements. This was a literal deconstruction process that relied
on markers and scissors. Participants then used collage to re-construct these
stories in empowering and colorful manners. One participant turned a bridal
magazine into a children’s book called Mommy
Doesn’t Want to Be a Wife, which she planned to read to her son.
Other creative techniques that I have applied to feminist issues have involved everything from creative letter
writing for reproductive rights, to
devising creative ritual for women’s empowerment, to the use of theatre to
research feminist organizations.
Forms and
Benefits
Integrating the creative arts into feminism can enhance the
transformative outcomes of any project. This is important if the intent of a
project is to create individual or social change. Following is a preliminary list that categorizes
three genres of creative arts, alongside related techniques and potential
outcomes. This list is based on my experience facilitating participatory arts
workshops and an art therapy group, as well as having used arts-based research
methods for one of my graduate theses.
Genre: Improvisational Arts
General Description: Involves spontaneous and unplanned creation in
response to cues.
Techniques: stream of consciousness drama (ie. role play or scene
building) or creative writing exercises (ie. poetry)
Possible Outcomes: Unplanned images and ideas can emerge in
improvisational activities and participants can learn something unexpected
about themselves or a topic. Innovative ideas may emerge that can lead to growth
in individual participants, organizations, and even social movements.
Genre: Participatory Arts
General Description: Involves the use of participatory activities that
are as much about creating a final creative piece as they are about enabling an
empowering process. Participants take center stage in the creative process of
production.
Techniques: community theatre techniques such as Theatre of the
Oppressed
Possible Outcomes: This form of the arts is particularly useful for
creating inclusive group processes in which marginalized voices become elevated.
Genre: Applied Traditional Arts
Description: Involves the use of drawing, creative writing, and drama
activities to explore a therapeutic issue, or a non-therapeutic theme. These
activities involve structured instructions in comparison to improvisational art
activities.
Techniques: visual arts activities, creative writing activities, drama
and art therapy activities (ie. role plays)
Possible Outcomes: Participants may feel increased safety in being
vulnerable in a group process, given the use of metaphor and imagery for self
expression as opposed to purely verbal conversation. This can be useful in
organizational team-building exercises.
Conclusion
The integration of creativity into feminism maximizes the
transformative outcomes of feminist projects. This phenomenon highlights the
role that psychology students and psychologists might play in creative
feminism, given that our strength is human transformation. For example, there
is a need for research data on the therapeutic benefits of creative feminism.
Additionally, therapists would be particularly powerful facilitators in
creative feminist projects, given our specialized training in group processes.
Over the last several years, Chandra has facilitated participatory
arts workshops alongside her engagement in grassroots and institutional-level
feminism. Her first Master’s degree, ‘Theatre and Global Development’, explored
how participatory theatre could be a force for change in the International
Development field. During this program, she wrote a thesis on negative
perceptions of feminists through the use of theatre research methods. Now
completing her Doctorate of Clinical Psychology, Chandra continues to be
interested in the fusion of the arts, psychology, and social justice through
research and practice.
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