SEEING HER STORIES
My Doctoral research, findings and implications for practice.
“Carla has enacted fully, in all its complexity, a woman’s way of knowing and by doing so has given us all permission to do the same.
This is a radical act, that, as she points out, destabilizes well, pretty much everything we’ve come to believe in the institutional and professional realm.”
– Pat B. Allen, Ph.D., ATR. Author of Art is a way of knowing; Art is a spiritual path and Cronation.
“The thesis is an excellent and inspired work that has many threads of significance, all of which can be seminal sources for the growth and development of the arts and therapy.
The excellence of the art made and shown, and the clarity of the thesis vision, give me great confidence in terms of its ongoing impact on the world and Carla van Laar’s ability to transform art therapy.”
– Shaun McNiff, Ph.D., ATR. Author of Art Heals; Art as Medicine; Integrating the Arts in Therapy; Art-Based Research; Art as Research and other books.
SEEING HER STORIES is a full colour book of illustrated essays that present my Doctoral Research into sharing women’s stories through art.
PLEASE ENJOY AS MUCH OR AS LITTLE OF THIS BOOK LAUNCH VIDEO AS YOU LIKE. IT GOES FOR 48 MINUTES AND PROVIDES A COMPREHENSIVE INTRODUCTION TO KEY IMPLICATIONS, SO GRAB A CUPPA OR SIMPLY WATCH THE FIRST TWO AND THE LAST TWO MINUTES IF YOU WANT THE SUMMARY 🙂
“Seeing her stories” combines my fascination with the power of seeing artworks, commitment to sharing women’s stories, and interest in discursive perspectives. This research adds layers of meaning to understandings about what happens when artworks are seen. I examine complex intersubjective relationships between people and artworks, in which seeing is at once a sense activity, a relational process and a discursive practice. The findings of this inquiry have implications for how we conceive of what art therapy can be.
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These are not recommended for online reading, however if you do view them on your device please use the two page view to enjoy the double page spread illustrations. Click on the image to open the chapter.
Chapter 1
Introduction
Marty offers, “There’s this one time, which still sort of fascinates me, about my engagement with Carla’s research, and it sort of happened slowly, and it still fascinates me. I went to the exhibition down at MIECAT, and I looked at all the paintings, and of course, I can relate to all of them, but then there was this one ”
Chapter 2
Seeing Her Stories
This chapter explores the theoretical context of this research, discussing the notion of “seeing” and how it has been explored by art therapists, the concepts of “story” and “her stories”, and how the idea of “seeing her stories” underpins and is interpreted within this research.
Chapter 3
Art based inquiry: Practice led, interconnected research with an organic structure
In this chapter, I explain and illustrate how I developed a methodological approach that is congruent with the topic of my research, “Seeing her stories”. Within this approach, I conceive of values as the glue that holds the project together.
Chapter 4
Project narrative: How the process unfolded over time
This chapter provides an account of how the organic structure of the research grew over time and the methods that I employed to arrive at my findings.
Chapter 5
Findings Section
What can happen when a woman’s stories are seen?
Presence and Embodiment.
Chapter 6
Context makes a difference in our seeing, and this can impact on our experiences of taking risks and feeling safe.
Chapter 7
Noticing changes and awareness of continuity in seeing her stories
Chapter 8
Relationship, connection and co-creation: Intertwined themes in “Seeing her stories”
Chapter 9
What can happen when a woman’s stories are seen?
We can feel that our lives have been enhanced
Chapter 10
“Seeing her stories”: Synthesis
The idea of seeing stories resituates and reimagines how people’s stories are experienced.
This research shows how seeing a woman’s stories through art is a process that is multi-faceted, layered and intersubjective, and has radical implications for our field.