Meaningful Art: Hurt to Hope

Meaningful Art our Youth Art Therapy Groups have had 10 young people join this term. Each with their own story and struggles. The program led by Anna Cameron, an experience family therapist, engages creative art activities to help explore and connect with areas of struggle, then expressing their emotions through artistic expression. 

A typical session starts with a guided activity usually evoking eye rolls and giggles as the participants disconnect from what they walked into the room with and connect in the moment and to each other. Then the creative journey for that day begins. There’s no right or wrong way to do the exercise, each young person has license to depict their work their own way. That can be challenging. 

One young person really struggled with this for a little while. They were so used to following instruction, creating a carbon copy piece. It’s freeing as they grasp their artwork is their own expression of what is going on in their own lives and it’s going to look different to other peoples. There’s no right or wrong its as unique as they are. 

This young person worried about being wrong and getting in trouble. After struggling for a few sessions, they grabbed hold of the concept and dove deep exclaiming “I can’t believe I can do my own thing!” 

The sessions can be really uplifting as chatter settles around them in the luxurious surroundings of the plush blue velvet curtains and the delicious treats necessary for teens. Then there’s times when the participants aren’t so buoyant. They may talk to their peers, or they may stay quiet, their work is dark, no bright colours. Yet they understand each other, they can be comfortable with quiet, with the struggle and as they work, they begin to draw each other out and their work can begin to change. 

Sometimes, when I pop up after the sessions and take a look at those sessions work my heart feels heavy at the depth of the burdens clearly evident in their work. 

One piece has stuck with me, a mask. The young people worked on both sides of their mask, the outside and the inside, a reflection of the external world as they interpreted it and their internal world as they saw themselves. 

Physically I recoiled as I picked up this mask. The front was covered in angry scribble, dark colours and vile names written all over it (which I won’t repeat) an expression of how they felt the world talked about them and saw them. I turned over the mask revealing the same angry scribble, no words written inside. I felt so heavy as I held their mask, this reflected how they viewed themselves and how they thought the world saw them. I silently prayed for hope for this young person for light to break through the darkness, to see themselves as God sees them, beautiful, unique and precious. 

My eyes were drawn to a brightly coloured mask, covered in sequins and feathers. I turned the mask over and saw personal reflections written within the mask, expression of struggles but followed by hopeful responses to that struggle. Here was that hope. I recognized the name, knowing exactly their struggles and the work reflected growth and internal courage. As I gave thanks for their journey I was encouraged by the sacredness of this space for our young people, their connection with Anna, her volunteers and each other. Relationships are building and hope is being found here.

Please keep this program, Anna, her team and the young people in your prayers this is deep work.