Art is therapeutic. On this tenet, eighty-six orphans from the Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation were inducted into a growing form of psychotherapy — expressions through art — to provide clues to their state of mind. A series of art workshops are held to enable them to portray their feelings, without fear of judgement.
“The way a child creates art and plays with it can highlight a great deal about their situation and experience,” said Sara Powell, art psychotherapist at the Art Therapy International Centre, which has been working closely with orphans. Ten Emirati volunteer artists hold the workshops.
This ongoing project, called the ‘Saleh’ Art Programme, is part of a year-long initiative by the Cultural Office of Shaikha Manal Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum organised for orphans and underprivileged children between ages four and 16.
The programme features four workshops, three of which have taken place, with the final one to be held on May 19.
Connecting with their thoughts and emotions for the first time, the children were able to explore the boundaries of their self-confidence and communicate their feelings through drawing, painting, clay modelling, music and group drama.
“The aim of art therapy is to encourage the use of a child’s natural inner resources, to help them to work through trauma and difficult experiences,” said Powell. “It does not focus on products or outcomes but on the therapeutic qualities of the art-making process itself. The safe environment provided to them to express themselves gives the tools to regulate their emotions and manage their behaviour.”
The approach gives the orphaned children an opportunity to directly convey their ideas on loss, grief or loneliness. Such emotions can have a deep impact on their sense of well-being, Powell said, depending on how strong or not is their resilience, and their ability to forge bonds and attachment with others.
The workshops explore themes such as self-identity and self-esteem in the form of in self-portraits, which are then assessed for what they reveal about the children’s minds. In another exercise, the children are asked to introduce themselves based on their likes and dislikes.