Art as Therapy: An artist’s expression
The following images are all the work of Susanne, a woman living on Sweden’s west coast. I came across her work on DeviantArt; she runs an Art-Psychology group there and openly admits to using art as a form of therapy, along with any writing she does to go alongside it. I didn’t have the time to read everything, but it was enough to see that she is sensitive and actively engaged in a dialogue with herself. And no, not all artists are sensitive and conscious of the internal therapeutic process.
The writing is in Swedish, and I had to rely on Google Translate to do the hard stuff, I only wish I could make more sense of the details. I did manage to grasp that Susanne has plenty of shit going around her, which has affected her mentally and emotionally. She consciously uses art and writing to express herself and calm her internal torment. It’s easy to assume that all art is a communication of sorts, whether it’s the artist’s mindset, emotion, or philosophical concept. Sometimes, art is used to bring the artist back to centre. When that happens, it is as much about achieving a personal psychological balance as it is about creating a finished piece of artwork that can be shared outwards with others. This may be the case with Susanna; this is shown in her use of repetition and reversals, symmetry, and a lack of fussy detail.
The pictures above show that an original image has been flipped to create a mirrored effect. Not everything in the folder was like this, but there was an overall sense of reflecting or balance. I wondered whether the covering of the heads indicates the desire to ignore the presence of thought or the inability to grasp them. The cone-heads in Locked Logic could be showing thoughts being contained too rigidly, whereas the clouds in Girlfriends may be showing ideas dispersing. There’s an element of mental confusion, a certain lack of clarity. She’s used the same image to create Friends in Crime and given them all horns; something about groups bringing the devil out in us perhaps? On her DeviantArt page underneath Friends in Crime she has written;
“Nothing brings women together more effectively than the harassment of another woman. They usually come in pairs, as best friends, but here they seem to need reinforcement and multiply. Perhaps they’ve done something they’re ashamed of and need support. They’re giggling and conspiring back there, having so much fun. Their husbands and sons love it and are so proud of them.”
From the category Stress and anxiety-inspired work
Again in some of these images, we’re seeing the use of flipping an original image to create symmetry. What I find interesting in Anonymous Callers is that she’s left the child’s head uncovered which suggests an awareness of the innocence of a young mind; children often see where adults turn a blind eye. This image says the adults are locked into their ways of thinking; Susanne titled another cone-head image Locked Logic; is it possible that similar thoughts were behind this artwork? Folie A Deux seems to be saying that whilst two are engaged in the same self-destructive behaviour, one is being wounded more than the other because only one side is bleeding. It’s almost certainly an expression of the awareness of a difference under the surface (conscious or not). I find Gravepine slightly more disturbing than the others, and it’s certainly more complex. Is it voices inside the head? Those people are clearly not where they’re supposed to be, that’s for sure. Is everyone listening through the same pair of ears? Listening to just one person? The original text underneath speaks of issues of slander and gossip. If this piece is anything to go by, it suggests a feeling of being invaded and torn.
The last two pictures lack the symmetry of those above and focus on a single object. Instead of a regular tail in Mermaid, we’re looking at the head of a crocodile. Her added text says;
A mermaid needs a sharp tail in dark waters
The modern presentation of Mermaids shows them as whimsical, graceful, and lacking in aggression which is almost the complete opposite of a crocodile. Both mermaids and crocodiles are creatures of water; the water is always symbolic of emotion and that which is being felt. Here we recognise having to rely on primitive instincts to stay safe. The ostrich is a picture I like a lot. Her comment on the image is;
Sometimes you cannot bury your evil head in the sand.
Not only does its mouth open in a scream, the whole image screams of an intention to face all that would typically have others burying their hands in the sand. It looks to me like the artist wants to confront the evil she sees and is doing so with her words and artwork. Susanne also has to face the people who provoke her in her daily life. I just wonder where she’d turn her attention if life were to offer her a period of peacefulness.
The account Susanne was using has since been deactivated.
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