Art therapists share reflections on the continual emerging through experiences of the pandemic and awareness of colonial violence.

Wave after wave after wave

Sarvatmika Rajeev (MA)
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Spring, summer, monsoon, winter,
The roads once empty, are beginning to show traces of life
Neighbours chatter across balconies,
Now begin to exchange tiffin boxes of recipes shared.

Tomorrow maybe I’ll leave my desk, I think.
The sunset reminds me I’m lucky to be alive,
The birds call, a steady hum of vehicles,
Reminds me of a life that continues on outside.

Spring, summer, monsoon, winter,
Tomorrow maybe I’ll leave my desk, I think.

Sarvatmika is from Chennai and her educational background includes a diploma in Expressive Arts Therapy and bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts. As part of her MA Art Psychotherapy training, Sarvatmika has worked in a drug rehabilitation halfway-home with adults, as well as within a medical setting with children and adolescents with experiences of abuse and chronic illnesses. She also had the opportunity to engage different clients in art therapy in Bali (Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Singapore and Chennai (India).

What we sometimes forget is that the creation of an art work is a cumulative process when only the final product is exhibited and admired. Art is the process in itself. Sarvatmika has a keen eye for seeing art in even the most mundane objects and her evolving identity as an artist leads her to explore different mediums. She is fascinated with the effects art has in reaching out to people, connecting with them and offering an approach that is both soothing and efficacious.

Essentials

Caralyn Randa (BA, DVATI)
Vancouver, BC

During the pandemic, I became an essential worker. I became a fiancée. I became a student again. I became a first time home buyer. I became grandparentless. I became a commuter cyclist. I became a gardening goddess. I became a tangle of intense anxiety and exhaustion, fluctuating between optimism and existential dread in an ongoing cycle. I am still unraveling what my “new normal” is.

Caralyn is an art therapist with a passion for weaving creativity into long-term care, and is in her second year of MA in Gerontology at Simon Fraser University.

COVID Time

Sherry Lynn (BHSc(N), MTS(C), RN, RP)
Grimsby, ON

For some, the concept of time has been dramatically altered by the COVID crisis. Before, many of us were on a fast track to nowhere — running from morning to night and a to-do list that was never done. Then everything slowed down as restrictions were put into place. We weren’t accustomed to this timer for stillness — and anxiety and depression overwhelmed. There is so much happening in the world today, indeed the very survival of humanity and earth is threatened. Perhaps, with luck and grace, this has been enough time for greater wisdom and a gentler humanity to emerge.

Sherry lives in Grimsby, Ontario and works in her private psychotherapy practice. On her days off, she is developing her art career.

See

Hyon Stee
Victoria, BC

Gathering all of our great energies
Across the heart-filled space
Clear to see
An uncomfortable truth

And silent falsehood
Coming finally to understanding
What came to pass...
See with the inner-eye

All of the hearts
Honouring 215++ First Nations Children
Spirit inside the inspiring spiral
Energy their hope, connecting us
Waiting for their story to become the full circle
Gathering up to unite us

Canadian History and
Literature by Oxford Publications
Page beside page
Representing contrasting
Accepted knowledge and falsehood
Lining up the words to emphasize
The question of true knowledge

These driftwood beads
A gift of nature found on chance
To connect with the gaze of the
Ancestors
Their voices echoing to meet the wisdom

The nine pointed star
Complement and fulfillment
North Stars, these children
Guiding the way of our future
Otherwise all remains darkness...

Hyon is an art therapist and artist.

This is a self-expressive artwork that I did to honour the children who were killed in residential schools. First we heard of the 215 and now they are finding many more. So heartbreaking to me, and I had this inspiration in June when we heard about this.

Re-Discovery

Dillon Lewchuk (MA, BA, BEd, CCC)
Victoria, BC

COVID-19 has impacted myself, my clients, and my career direction. The ability to provide art therapy and counselling services throughout the initial and ongoing pandemic in Canada has provided a wealth of learning opportunities in the way I work: constant flexibility, reflecting on best practices and challenging my creativity. The high intensity of the ongoing, daily effort to reduce barriers for clients by pivoting from in-person services, Zoom, and telephone support was incredible yet exhausting.

This photograph attempts to capture the ability to slow down, become curious and initiating the repair of the disconnection from the outside world due to the isolation COVID-19 brought. As I reflect, my own personal connection to the natural world was severed due to the pandemic (outside became “dangerous”) and the mental health demand leading to overworking myself. I’m now actively working towards reconnecting to my foundational attachment to nature through a recent move. COVID-19 stirred up the soil I was residing on and shifted me to pack up my life and re-locate to Vancouver Island from Saskatchewan. As I settle, I’m planting seeds where my curiosity leads me in exploring my relationship with nature and mental health. This new opportunity has me focused on caring for these newly planted seeds and watching them grow into flourishing opportunities personally and professionally.

Dillon is an art therapist and counsellor. He is currently working and exploring the unceded traditional lands of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples of Vancouver Island.