Mechanisms of Art for Social Art Therapy

Abstract

In our current turbulent social climate, with climate change, wars, political upheaval, and migration, social problems become central issues for many of clients. This theoretical paper offers a method of understanding art in art therapy through social theories providing four inherent mechanisms of art that are connected to social theories. These mechanisms include: using art to explore phenomenological experience of social context; using art to integrate subjective experience within social background; using art as mapping our social reality; using art as mediating communication within a system. Each of these mechanisms is illustrated with examples from the author’s previous publications. Appropriate social settings are also outlined. This paper will contribute to art therapists’ ability to use art through social lense within their art therapy practice in long-term crises. It presents how to use art mechanisms to help a family, group, or community, and manage the constant shifts, from homeostasis to change, that crisis demands.