MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts Program
Currently the focus of my research is on the dynamic interplay between risk, dialogue and the creative process in art, healing and peace work. I have noticed for example that the central components of creativity often remain the same whether the creative process is being applied to artistic practice; lived as an integral component of wellness and the exercise of resilience; or emergent from within conflict negotiation processes.
And aside from adhering in some general ways to the creative process (that is often referred to in terms of a sequence of stages that sometimes defies sequential order), art, healing, and conflict also require individual and social bodies to engage in some form of dialogue and enter into places of discovery and new learning – hence accept a certain level of risk. Though often the risk is symbolic within the realm of art, it is this very symbolism that can create the conditions to make something real enough to become possible. In other words, what can be experienced in the symbolic (but nonetheless real) realm of art often is transposed in non-linear ways to influence personal and social wellness and options in response to conflict.
In her book, The Way of Conflict: Elemental Wisdom for Resolving Disputes and Transcending Differences, Deidre Combs proposes that conflict can be mapped as a four-phase process. She suggests that creativity is the key to offsetting the frustration and violence that often accompanies the refusal or incapacity to adapt to disruption and chaos that are inherent in all shifting relational situations. (Disruption, according to this schema being the first phase, followed by chaos the cycle ends when after passing through the fiery stage of creative evolution, social stability is re-established.)
According to Combs, if “the stakes are high and much courage is demanded” the implementation of ideas found in the third stage of conflict (that would bring about a certain sense of stability and resolve the conflict), might involve a high degree of self-doubt and “this struggle with insecurities and anxiety can be stifling. We may become controlling and ‘fix’ everyone else instead of taking personal responsibility. Stuck, we will try to rescue instead of evolving.”
What I have found is that often it’s just at the moment when one can really sense the possibility of change that it seems old beliefs scream loudest for attention, calling the individual or group back to what is familiar and therefore comfortable. Often it is at tense moments such as these that aggression becomes manifest as one acts out the disturbance in violent ways. Translating risk into symbolic language can help mitigate the doubt and the fear of what can sometimes feel like death as one lets go of old beliefs and restructures narrative.
I have often considered that artistic activities are referred to as artistic practice because they provide the artist(s) and participants/audience with the framework to practice dealing with issues that in real life may be too difficult to approach and handle directly. Given my own experience and observations, I suggest that not only is art itself inherently a process of conflict, engaging with art is a deliberate engagement with conflict. Such an engagement with the symbolic is a structured and relatively ‘safe’ means of dealing with challenging issues and inviting change.
Artistic practice, often through its inherent repetitive nature, invites the possibility for validation and integration as old stories are witnessed within a social holding ground. Artistic practice can also create the conditions in which new stories can be constructed and told. Art can teach us, with the use of symbolic language, to bring flexibility to our memories. And with the authority of memory being such an integral element in revealing (to ourselves and to others) who we are and what we value, this transformative element is powerfully healing. Translating risk into symbolic language – as becomes possible with creative practice – can serve to make the risk more approachable and the resolution more apparent.
Understanding that creativity, violence, and the tendency to want to save others are intricately linked means that we have to become conscious of our motives as we develop our creative practices. And as with anything unfamiliar, conscientious practice can hone skills and strengthen abilities as long as we are careful to not let practice become habit.
Websites: www.devoraneumark.com
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Devora Neumark, BFA