AISLING FEGAN, MA, Art Psychotherapy
I am an Irish artist and art psychotherapist based in London in the United Kingdom. Art psychotherapy is a type of psychological therapy (rather than an art class or hobby) that uses creative practices like drawing, painting, collage, and sculpting to provide an accessible way to communicate and contain thoughts and feelings that are too difficult to express with words alone - sometimes there simply are no words.
My approach is underpinned using psycho- dynamic and group analytic thinking. It is also informed by social, cultural and political matters, creative arts and lived-experiences on a mental health spectrum of wellness and distress. I am particularly curious about how therapists manage trauma, mental pain and suffering.
In a psychoanalytic world dominated by white, medicalized psychotherapists, concerns related to shame, hierarchy, power and mental distress sit deeply in the shadows of the profession. In my opinion this is having a profoundly problematic impact on the type of therapy people receive, the training and demographic of future therapists and the functioning of staff teams. I am creating art to help me think about this in a different way; a deeper way. Making art is a fundamental part of my clinical work process. For me, it is essential for safe practice.
Locked Inside
(Sculpture, 2” x 2” x 2”)
Locked Inside was made as a creative response to my experiences in a weekly, online large group.
Whilst the world is engulfed by the mass trauma imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, I am present and exploring what it means to be part of this online group with clinicians from across the globe. Here, I am interested in what is seen and unseen, online and offline. What can be said, felt and witnessed in this type of large group? What is accessible on different levels of conscious awareness? What is locked under my own skin, being projected onto heads on a screen and held within the body of the group? Does it belong to me, to you or to the collective?