MONTREAL/September 18, 2008—
International researchers, creative art therapists, mental health practitioners, artists and students will gather in Montreal from September 18 to 20, 2008 for Canada’s first-ever conference about trauma and the arts entitled Art as Witness: Art, Art Therapy and Trauma Resolution. The conference is taking place at le Nouvel Hôtel (1740 René-Lévesque Blvd. West), and is jointly organized by the Department of Creative Arts Therapies at Concordia University, the Art Therapy Association of Quebec (AATQ) and the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA).
The impact of trauma has become a major global public health issue. Incidences of genocide, war, terrorism, abuse and loss generate both collective and individual trauma experiences worldwide. Conference participants will hear how the creative art therapies are being used increasingly in trauma intervention, including drama therapy in Lebanon, children’s art in Darfur, art therapy and oratory in Canadian Aboriginal healing, and the role of art for Holocaust survivors and those who have experienced war conflict.
For centuries, people have turned to the arts to comprehend, explore, and express their experience of a traumatic event. Art can convey something of the unspeakable, when words are unable to capture the experience. The conference will explore the wide range of art therapies from visual arts and puppet-making to theatre and storytelling that assist people of all ages and backgrounds who have experienced either individual or collective trauma, loss or any other tragedy.
The conference will close with the screening of a new film by award-winning Montreal-based writer, David Homel, entitled Is My Story Hurting You?, drawing attention to the distress that was experienced by the therapists themselves working with trauma survivors in post-civil war Belgrade (Serbia).
The conference is supported by research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Concordia University (Dr. Josée Leclerc, Principal Investigator) and the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Official Languages Support Programs).
Details about the Art as Witness conference visit http://joseeleclerc.concordia.ca/artaswitness or contact Esther Kalaba at 514-467-9821 or 514-488-6188, artaswitness@gmail.com.
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Source :
Tanya Churchmuch
Senior Media Relations Advisor
Concordia University
