Art as Therapy with WomenStrong DC: Part 2 of 3
“Art as Therapy” with WomenStrong DC (WSDC) documents the results of a five-week Self-Portrait Silhouette Workshop where the women of WSDC, under the guidance of teaching artists Lana Wong and Sabreena Jeru-Ahmed, used their creative talents to discuss powerful personal issues.
Here is part two of the series:
Christie Gardner
“Christie Gardner photographed sitting next to her artwork.”
“Christie Gardner photographed sitting next to her artwork.”
In my neighborhood there is a lot of violence, so I used the camouflage with the fatigues to symbolize that I have to be a soldier or warrior everyday to survive in my neighborhood. As per the Crime Victims Act, I’m supposed to be relocated from my current neighborhood. They shot up my apartment almost a year ago. They were after a neighbor and they misidentified my house as theirs. I have five bullet holes in my wall, it took forever for them to be fixed and everyday I look at them I think just one of them could have killed me. I’ve had to see a psychiatrist just to deal with some of the trauma from the experience. The image itself is of me with my blond braided hair. Then, I love earrings so I added that as style to kind of depict me – a younger version of me at least. I pray a lot so that’s why I have the prayer stance in the silhouette. I also take the kids in my neighborhood to church. One time I had like 17 kids and I’d try my best to teach them good principles.
Francis Lampkin
“A smiling Francis poses next to her silhouette.”
“A smiling Francis poses next to her silhouette.”
When I look at this silhouette I think, ‘I must have been happy that day.’ I definitely know I wanted to capture my happiness in there. There is so much love I have in my heart that people don’t understand. I just want to be peaceful. Sometimes I feel like the devil just making me snap all the time. I get mad and I do things and say things I don’t want to. Where is this anger coming from? I am just angry and I don’t know where it’s coming from.
I have appointments with a psychiatrist about this. Not with Bread for the City , but up at the clinic in Anacostia. I feel I just want to be better and have more control and work on that. So I made the artwork to show what I feel inside, that a lot of times I don’t get to show.
I put clouds and butterflies and used the bright colors with the sun high in the sky to show how happy I am on the inside. Being outdoors makes me happy too, so I painted myself outside. I placed the names of my family members inside words I think best describes them. My son’s name is Cody and I put him in ‘Happy’. My other son, Raymond, I put him in ‘Peace’. Me and my friend, 89 is his nickname, I put us in ‘Love’ for the obvious reasons.
Reposted from the [Bread for the City Blog]
