Letting go of borders..
Today in therapy, everyone works on a self-chosen theme. They have written this in the corner on their paper and an abstract drawing is made within that theme using oil pastel.
What they don’t know, however, is that after 10 minutes they have to pass their drawing on to the person sitting next to them, and they can work on someone else’s drawing for a certain period of time.
She chooses the theme ‘harmony’. She draws two triangles. A red one and a blue one and starts making squiggle lines in the background. She has colored two of them with green when I asked her to pass on the drawing.
She focuses on the new drawing in front of her. The theme, the way of drawing, the use of color. She would like to add something of herself to the drawing, and considers the use of color and the way of drawing of the other person. This makes her draw in a way she hasn’t done before. Free shapes, color transitions, unlined shapes…
When she gets her own drawing back, the background is fully colored. Just as she had planned. “Oh, it’s all ready,” she says. Others are still starting to draw their own drawing, and she continues to look at hers. Then she takes red and blue and starts adjusting the triangles.
During the debriefing, she says: “I actually want to get away from all the borders that I always create for myself. By working on other drawings, I saw how things could be done differently. And then I decided to adapt my own drawing.”
And she takes this realization with her from the therapy session: breaking free/letting go of self-created borders.
What a beautiful insight from a seemingly simple exercise.
The power of art therapy.