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Media of the Mind
is a creative project to explore the psyche through experiencing and analyzing mixed media, serving as a bridge for individuals to connect with their internal world and participate in the artwork of becoming a conscious individual. The artistic dimension is a dimension of truth and universality. So much so, that even when we might be afraid of approaching painful topics and feelings, art has a way of reaching our unconscious with images and symbols that can mirror emotional experiences for us, putting us in touch with our inner world and allowing us a chance to grapple with our lives.
Art is a type of visual phenomena that expresses metaphors, images, symbols and motifs about what it is to be alive. Art reflects themes of the human condition, our very nature, and bears witness to our tragedies that may not be felt or expressed with words alone. It demonstrates that emotional experiences are universal; that it is in our nature to feel, to relate, to struggle, to suffer, and to persevere. Experiencing our lives reflected back to us through artistic media allows us to come into touch with our own humanity.
Art serves as an emotional and psychological container for an individual, a space where they can hold and process emotional experiences that come from deep within. When viewing artistic media, our minds are responding to the images, sounds and symbols in the artwork. This helps stimulate one's experiencing of a deeper strata of psychological material, both unconscious and archetypal.
As we are able reflect on material that was once outside of our awareness, we can connect back to ourselves. We can find and come to know ourselves, feel ourselves and trust ourselves, while making sense of our experiences and validating the feelings we've been carrying.
Taking time to reflect on art can make conscious our emotional experiences, values and belief systems and can help us increase our self-awareness, while promoting self-understanding, self-acceptance and personal growth.This practice may be relied on as something we can turn to when life gets difficult or distressing.
How often do you find yourself talking about a song, a book, a TV show or a movie that you were personally impacted by? Moreover, how often do you realize why you are having a particular response to this movie? Artistic media can stir up feelings in us that may have been warded off from our consciousness. Emotional experiences can be felt when they are accurately reflected back to us.In this way, relating to a particular art piece can give us an opportunity to become aware of and in touch with our feelings.
Traumatic experiences often cause us to feel isolated or estranged.As an observer of art, you are relating to another individuals' experience, which is inherently not as lonely and shame inducing as feeling alienated in your own experience.
When we relate to an art piece, we are able to find language around our experiences that are being reflected in the art.Our feelings become more clear and articulable to us, and we may find ourselves more willing to talk and share about these feelings.
The magic of art is how it expresses truth and emotion and in doing so, helps us bear the weight of our lives by offering us a container for our pain; a container that can be shared to help others do the same. Art is a way back to connection with self and others.
Whether creating art yourself, or participating in the art as an observer, artistic media provides us with an opportunity to become curious, aware and respond consciously to our feelings and experinces.
Media of the Mind is an offering of one particular path towards personal growth through the use of art in its various forms. The hope is that through reflecting on art, we may begin to deepen our relationship with our inner world. This process can be used to awaken self examination as we witness the mirroring of our life experiences through artistic expression. We may also experience a greater reflection on culture and society and our connection to the world around us.
I plan to select films and other media that evoke reflection on who we are, how we got this way and how we are subsequently relating to the world. I will also be sharing my own art and exploring the creative process itself as a method of alchemizing life’s hardships into the gold of soulfulness by honoring our necessary and sacred relationship with psyche.