record – LABS

Thesis Info

Thesis Title: Exile, psycho-trauma and art practice: How art practice can help the exiled

Keywords: psycho-trauma, trauma, exile, refugees, migration, displacement, creativity, psychoanalysis, clinical psychology, art-theory, community arts, participatif arts, artandpolitics

Abstract: 200-500 words: This research paper highlights the relationship between psycho-trauma linked to exile and art practice. Under the current climate of ‘refugee crisis’, this study interrogates the binary notion of being in exile and opens the door to more subjective and human definitions. It explores the dual quality of exile as traumatic but also as a creative space, using clinical psychology, psychoanalysis and art theory. Then through the analysis of case studies of female artists Şükran Moral, Louise Bourgeois, Ana Mendieta and Shirin Neshat, it demonstrates different kinds of psychological dynamics underlying art practice and their possible function. The relationship of these artists to their homeland (fighting against patriarchy or commemoration of the home country) seems to be a distinct factor in defining their art practice. It also discusses various community-based art practice projects where artists meet with the exiled to construct relationships and create a shared, inclusive story. Equally, the work relates the researcher’s work as an artist and mental health activity manager concerning the research questions. It concludes by demonstrating that both individual and collective art practice can help to process emotions linked to exile and that artists have a responsibility towards inclusivity, with regards to people who have been pushed to the margin of society.