I make theater performances, videos, installations and give (art)classes. I mostly do this with LGBTQIA+ youth, kids living in refugee camps, people who are grieving and art students.
Art has been used for propaganda, as a tool for protest and for conflict resolution. Art can form the images, quotes and feelings that get stuck at the back of our mind and hold us back from moving forward. During my studies I was encouraged to become more critically aware and to start talking to people I did not agree with and listening to stories from multiple perspectives to deepen my understandings. This helped me realise how many complex layers there are in conflicts. Conflicts in ourselves, the identities we consider ‘ours’ or those that are put upon us, the cities and environments we live in, the politics we encounter and so on…
I learned to ask uncomfortable questions but also to live with uncomfortable questions about myself – and in the meantime to do this in a caring and meaningful way. I started to use artistic materials, poetry and visually based theater as a tool to work with situations of conflict and loss. Through arts based research I developed methods of support that could help people who (for instance) grieve, without moving in to the field of arts therapies by keeping a clear focus on the intention.
I was encouraged and questioned about the values of such work and asked to move beyond the art of storytelling which made me question how the artistry of making these stories and showing them affected the lives of people who lived through them.
For me this results in finding ways of interviewing, script writing or creating in which the people I work with have a sense of ownership. I want to search together for what kind of biases are related to the conflict they experience in there live (espacially when working with LGBTQIA+ people or people who are grieving) and research together how art can be a tool to reframe, research and reclaim, even if these biases are internalised.
I learned to ask uncomfortable questions but also to live with uncomfortable questions about myself – and in the meantime to do this in a caring and meaningful way. I started to use artistic materials, poetry and visually based theater as a tool to work with situations of conflict and loss. Through arts based research I developed methods of support that could help people who (for instance) grieve, without moving in to the field of arts therapies by keeping a clear focus on the intention.
I was encouraged and questioned about the values of such work and asked to move beyond the art of storytelling which made me question how the artistry of making these stories and showing them affected the lives of people who lived through them.
For me this results in finding ways of interviewing, script writing or creating in which the people I work with have a sense of ownership. I want to search together for what kind of biases are related to the conflict they experience in there live (espacially when working with LGBTQIA+ people or people who are grieving) and research together how art can be a tool to reframe, research and reclaim, even if these biases are internalised.
In a lot of my educational programs I use art as a source of joy and playfulness, espacially when working with kids in refugee camps. I try to create theater, excersises and games that give the oppurtinity to create and experiment in a save way. I want to create trauma informed work. A lot of times people dealing with trauma can benefit from having structure and a sense of control. I try to create organised chaos, where participants can play around and experiment but also have clear informed layout to play around in. Espacially since I work a lot in spaces that do not have a lot of fascilities to do theater/art or have a feeling of autonomy. Even if the cirgumstances are not Ideal for a creative proces I want to find ways to be creative together and see people for the creative talents they have rather than see them for the identitiy group they are put into (and the preconceptions atteached to this identity)
Sometimes my work means using art as a tool to start conversations about hard and emotional topics, sometimes it means using art to create a sense of joy and play. But coming to a conclusion I realise that artisteducators have the ability to reframe the ‘truths’ we live and create in our everyday lives
