The Power of Art: Art for Social Justice
Elene Lam (MSW, PhD Cand.)
Hamilton, ON
Elene is an activist, community organizer, educator, and human rights defender. She has fought for sex workers, migrant, labour, racial and gender justice over 20 years. She is the founder of Butterfly (the Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network). She has used diverse and innovative approaches in pursuing social justice and fighting for the rights of marginalized communities, such as migrants, sex workers, and people who experience violence. She has, for example, organized a number of community art projects to the purpose of bringing about social change, e.g. International Sex Workers’ Festival and “Butterflies’ Voices” . She has conducted trainings for and presentations to community members, services providers, and policy makers on the subjects of sex work, migration, anti-oppressive practices, and human rights nationally and internationally. She holds a Master of Laws and a Master of Social Work degree. Currently she is a PhD candidate at McMaster University (School of Social Work), and studies the harms perpetrated by the anti-trafficking movement. She is the recipient of the Constance E. Hamilton Award for Women’s Equality (City of Toronto).
Butterfly members advocate to stop anti-Asian racism and for the rights of massage parlours and sex workers after the murder of the Asian massage workers in Atlanta, 2021
As a community organizer, activist and artist, I often incorporate art-based modalities into my work with marginalized communities. I’ve worked alongside migrants, sex workers, and people who experience violence to build collective power and to promote social justice. By sharing examples of community art projects I have been part of, I hope to illustrate how art making can bring transformative change at individual, collective and societal levels. My intent is to inspire art therapists to see themselves as social activists and to recognize their role in social change.
Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses the visual arts for self-exploration and self-expression. Art in this case is used for the purposes of communication, to foster healing, and to improve emotional and psychological well-being. Unfortunately, art therapy often focuses heavily on the individual. This means that the therapeutic work emphasizes personal improvement over healing from or resisting injustice at the societal level. Going beyond the individual, and adopting an anti-oppression and intersectional lens can allow art therapists to become change agents in community and society.
Art therapy has also been criticized for being dominated by white, middle class and cisgender art therapists, who may perpetuate white supremacy, racism, colonialism, sexism, Eurocentrism, ableism, professionalism, and other types of systematic oppression in their practice. Art therapists should be able to recognize the harms they may cause due to unexamined beliefs and prejudices based on their own life experiences. They must also take into account how a client’s life story, self-esteem, and feelings of fear, anxiety and distress are shaped by these systems.
People who are marginalized and oppressed often find it difficult to speak out. Their voices are silenced by those who are more privileged. Dominant narratives often produce and reproduce stigma and discrimination, and perpetuate invisibility. Emotional distress and self-blame may be the outcome of internalizing these messages. For example, people who experience sexual violence may be traumatized, but also often be blamed for being promiscuous or going to strangers’ houses, or being a sex worker. Victim blaming does not only silence people who have experienced sexual violence, it also reinforces gender stereotypes and maintains patriarchy.
“Therapeutic work emphasizes personal improvement over healing from or resisting injustice at the societal level. Going beyond the individual, and adopting an anti-oppression and intersectional lens can allow art therapists to become change agents in community and society.”
Our identities and the culture we live in are shaped by economic, social, legal and political structures. When marginalized people are able to understand their experiences within this greater context, deeper healing can take place. All of us benefit from feeling a sense of belonging, and encouraging clients to build collective power with others who share similar experiences can lead to long-lasting change. For these reasons, becoming aware of privilege, power and oppression is essential to therapeutic work.
Self-Representation
Self-representation through art making can provide opportunities for people who are marginalized or traumatized to express their emotions, feelings and thoughts, and to heal. Self-representation can be a powerful counter-narrative for challenging and resisting mainstream narratives which increase marginalization and oppression. For example, I worked at a rape crisis centre in Hong Kong with a group of women who had experienced sexual violence. These women worked with their counsellors to develop artwork that represented their experiences. Through the art-making process, they also critically examined how their experiences were shaped by gender stereotypes and how they were re-traumatized by the justice system. They examined how societal norms regarding gender and gender identity, as well as current policies, affected their self-worth, self-esteem, and feelings of anxiety, fear and inadequacy.
“Self-representation can be a powerful counter-narrative for challenging and resisting mainstream narratives which increase marginalization and oppression.”
This group of women organized an art exhibition to show their art works to the public and to make their voices heard. In this situation, their voices and art works were not passive objects, but powerful catalysts for change. By using drawing, writing, photo, video and installation, they could speak to their abusers, to other women’s experiences, and to society. They demanded an end to stigma, discrimination, and stereotypes against them.
They also endeavoured to change the narrative that constructed them as victims or survivors by referring to themselves as “happiness chasers.” These women wanted to show the public that the experience of the violence did not destroy them, and that they were able to transform their painful experiences into positive growth and change. Through this art project, they were able to transform their relationships with counsellors, therapists, legal professionals and the authorities.
Many of the women who participated in this project changed their role from being clients who received counselling, to becoming advocates for themselves and fighting against gender-based violence.
Butterfly Voices installed at Whippersnapper Gallery in Toronto Chinatown as part of Mayworks Festival, 2016
Another project in which I have been involved is titled Butterfly Voices. This is a community art project in which I worked with community artist Alvis Choi. Both of us believe in the power of community and creativity and the effectiveness of art. Due to isolation, legal risk and discrimination, the voices of migrant sex workers, particularly those who are Asian and poor, are not heard. These workers are often described as vulnerable, ignorant, naïve and not able to speak for themselves. These racist and misogynist perceptions of Asian women and women of colour are promoted by anti-sex work organizations and policymakers. For example, the leader of an anti-trafficking organization in a city meeting openly stated that “Asian women cannot speak English,” because she assumed that speaking English as a second language or speaking with a different accent did not really count as speaking English.
Unfortunately, migrant sex workers are often uniformly perceived as victims of human trafficking who need to be rescued. Simultaneously, they are treated as illegal migrants and organized criminals. The mainstream media and anti-trafficking campaigns depict them as threats and burdens to Canadian society.
Butterfly Voices used art and storytelling to engage Asian and migrant sex workers in Toronto. The project emphasized the creative expression of the workers, and focused on self-determination and self-representation. We used butterflies as a metaphor for migration and liberation. We invited the workers to share their dreams, how they are empowered by sex work, and what they contribute to society. They were invited to use art to express their feelings, ideas, thoughts and politics in creative and fun ways. In addition to the art-making workshops, the workers could continue to work on their projects at home or at their workplaces. By participating in this project, many workers were exposed to the idea that they could make art and tell their stories to the public for the first time. They were also able to remain anonymous, which is important to migrant sex workers as they are criminalized and stigmatized.
“We used butterflies as a metaphor for migration and liberation. We invited the workers to share their dreams, how they are empowered by sex work, and what they contribute to society.”
Making space for the workers to speak for themselves was critical and fundamental to this project. The goal of this project was to reduce and remove stereotypes and stigma against migrant sex workers. The artwork they created became a powerful vehicle for challenging the victim label, as well as stereotypes that they are ignorant, naïve and that they cannot speak out for themselves.
From Individual to Collective
Art is not only a means for individuals to explore their emotions and express themselves, it is also a tool for building meaningful connections with their own communities and to call for support and solidarity. When I worked at a rape crisis centre in Hong Kong, most of the women who received counselling services did not speak with or feel connected to the other women there. Many felt isolated and lonely, but they did not feel safe reaching out to the other women or joining group activities. Recognizing these common experiences of isolation, the rape crisis centre built an art sharing corner. The women were encouraged to share their artwork and gift their work to each other. They were able to use art as a way to share messages to encourage and support each other, and to start getting to know each other. The participants of this art project met with social workers, police, policymakers, and legal professionals in the justice system to educate them about the second trauma caused by these institutions, and to call for their support in changing the system.
“The diverse and unique butterflies created by the workers (the self-representation of migrant sex workers), became powerful as a collective voice and story. Through this project, migrant sex workers were able to build a collective identity and work in solidary and resistance with sex workers in other cities and countries, such as Montreal, Vancouver, Thailand, Europe and Hong Kong.”
Artwork from the “Power in Our Hand” art workshop, Toronto, 2019
Art-making has been a similarly effective tool for the organization Butterfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Organization) to engage with and mobilize migrant sex workers communities. Migrant sex workers are marginalized and isolated due to their precarious immigration status and because of the criminalization and discrimination of sex work. The diverse and unique butterflies created by the workers (the self-representation of migrant sex workers), became powerful as a collective voice and story. Through this project, migrant sex workers were able to build a collective identity and work in solidary and resistance with sex workers in other cities and countries, such as Montreal, Vancouver, Thailand, Europe and Hong Kong. This collective voice of the workers has also been powerful when used towards calls for solidarity and support from allies to build the migrant sex workers movement. For example, over 120 allies joined the social justice forum and art exhibition we organized, showing their commitment to fighting for justice for migrant sex workers.
Making Social and Policy Change Possible
300 workers joining City Consultation and voiced their demands, 2019
The silencing of migrant sex workers and the victims discourse has been used to justify harmful anti-trafficking policies, criminalization of sex work, repressive immigration policies and an increase of policing against migrant sex workers. Anti-sex work organizations and politicians have used the anti-trafficking discourse to call for punitive bylaw enforcement as well as the shutting down of Asian massage parlours. For example, the Ontario government has spent over 300 million dollars to fund law enforcement and anti-trafficking organizations to increase surveillance against sex workers and support the work to end sex work. The government also passed Bill 251, which gives law enforcement unchecked power to profile racialized people and sex workers. Law enforcement officers have the power to enter any place, at any time, and reveal any document. Migrant sex workers, particularly Asian workers, are humiliated, abused, surveilled, arrested, detained and deported. With the lobbying of anti-trafficking and women’s organizations, the municipal government has increased policing and punitive policies against Asian-run massage parlours. For example, the town of Newmarket passed a bylaw that only workers who graduated from accredited institutions are allowed to work in personal wellness centres. Asian non-English speaking migrant workers are no longer allowed to work, despite the fact that massage skills are traditional Asian knowledge.
In 2019, the City of Toronto proposed a bylaw review of holistic centres to eliminate the holistic license category. Over 2000 workers, mainly Asian workers, would have lost their work. In order to fight back, a community artist Kelly Lui worked with the Asian migrant massage workers and sex workers to develop a project call “Power in Our Hand”. The intent was to tell the government and society that they were not trafficked victims and that they needed to continue to have access to their livelihoods. The workers took pictures of their hands to show that they used their hands to earn a living, and that they were not isolated individuals but a community of people. Butterfly and community arts collective Tea Base organized a joint event in Toronto’s Chinatown to ask the city to stop the implementation of this harmful policy. Over 400 workers and allies participated in a city meeting to express their opposition to this policy, and to fight for justice for migrant sex workers.
Conclusion
I have used a few examples to illustrate how art has been be used to transform oppressive conditions, and to bring about social justice. Art can provide innovative ways for people to share their stories in ways that can make them stronger. Art can also be used to move through collective trauma and share experiences with each other. Instead of focusing on the individual treatment model, art therapy may explore how dominant narratives produce and re-produce oppressions which shape the feelings and experiences of individual. Art therapy can be used to heal social ills and injustices. Art therapists may explore how to use art therapy to facilitate the empowerment and self-representation of marginalized people; to build community and collective power; to challenge the dominant narrative; and to change social policy and bring equity and social justice. I also would like to call for art therapists to expand the vision of art therapy to support Indigenous, migrant, disability, racial, sex work and gender justice.
Further Learning
Butterfly (with Alvis Choi & Kelly Lui) (2021), In Addition: 5 Years+ Grassroots Power with Butterfly. https://www.butterflysw.org/online-art-exhibition
Kelly Lui & Jorge Antonio Vallejos (2017), Migrant Sex Workers Art: Butterfly Voices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6g8xxUpCaw&t=381s
Loretta Miauw (2021). Butterfly X New Ho Queen for Pride 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q_9TL84u-I&t=4s
Please consider supporting Butterfly’s 8 Calls for Justice: https://www.butterflysw.org/8callsforjustice