Jess Minckley (MFA)
Seattle, WA

This work was a reflection on the oppression I had to bear in my graduate training programs in art therapy. Each artwork was created on top of a photographed self-portrait of my body.

In these works, I have been dealing with the effects of academic trauma, and how to compartmentalize its effects to successfully navigate gatekeeping and perform my professional identity as a graduate student. Simultaneously, this work is about my queer, disabled, white, activist identities, and how to integrate their intersections into the social justice work I've done within the institution and within myself during the last few years. This has been a trying process, and I have found that it is not unique to me. Greater transparency about discrimination against students from marginalized identities is needed. If you experienced discrimination in your graduate program, I welcome you to share your story in words or pictures with me for a research process I am starting for my master's thesis. Email: arttherapystories@outlook.com