For six students of the Masters of Professional Studies in Art Therapy at the School of Visual Arts, New York, their stay at Sankalpa, Auroville, recently was an experience of a lifetime. Krupa Jhaveri, art therapist and director with Sankalpa, said the stay has challenged the notion of the ‘educated foreigner teaching the local people’.
The School of Visual Arts (SVA) offers a study abroad option for the ‘Multicultural Issues in Art Therapy’ course. As Ms. Jhaveri is an alumna of the same programme, six chosen students were at Sankalpa for two weeks, for which they received course credits. Iyyappan Jayamoorthy, project coordinator at Sankalpa, coordinated the visit.
The stay at Sankalpa included students being paired with women from the locality, where the women were given leadership roles aimed at empowerment. The women taught students art forms like creation of garlands, kolams, flower and grain mandalas on the ground, embroidery and drawing of henna patterns.
“We learned how to make kolams and the patience and focus this art form takes. There is a precision with which the rice flour was pressed between the thumb and index finger to create continuous and even lines that I could not quite grasp, yet my teacher was so patient and kind, holding my hand and guiding me until I created lines I could be proud of,” said Stephanie Carter, one of the students.
Overcoming initial hesitation, the students got along well with the women and villagers around Auroville. Elizabeth DelliCarpini, instructor from SVA, who accompanied the students here, said, “Interacting with those from another culture seemed to increase the women's' awareness of their strengths and skills.”
An exhibition of the works created in the period was displayed at Auroville and is expected to be showcased in New York as well this year. The students also participated in community art events through Sankalpa’s Art Cart and outreach programmes.
About the interaction with the children in the village, Ms. Carter said, “The art in this case was simply a precursor to the real connections that were formed after; the spontaneous drum circle that started with some boys teaching my classmates how to drum, or another group teaching one of us how to count in Tamil, and the creation of paper airplanes so we could play catch.”
“The learning at Auroville required us to relinquish a lot of our own classroom-based theoretical knowledge,” said Arielle Rothenberg, another student.
For Ms. Jhaveri, the experience was a validation of her dream. “I genuinely saw the intention of art as a bridge flourish beyond expectation,” she said.
“Art therapy is a platform for individuals to express themselves imaginatively, safely, and openly. Art therapy can provide freedom, and also provide structure,” said Ms. Rothenberg. Ms. DelliCarpini added, “Art therapy in general can provide a way for people to express feelings that they are unable or unwilling to communicate verbally.”
Celeste, a student, said she had been inspired by the experience.
“To be able to witness all the hard work that Krupa has put into Sankalpa, which she then shared so freely with us students, gives me great hope for the possibilities of using Art Therapy internationally,” she said.
