Let Art Be the Canvas of Emotions: The Power of Creative Arts Therapy

"Emotions" are a way to protect people, an innate part of our physical being.

When it comes to psychotherapy involving art, common therapeutic approaches include visual arts therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, dance therapy, bibliotherapy, horticultural therapy, and so on. The common thread among them is to help individuals focus on the present and increase self-awareness, allowing emotions to be processed. These therapeutic methods are merely channels, providing an outlet or means of expression for inexpressible emotions.

In Macau, the suicide rate has risen in recent years (see All About Macau's report), exceeding the international average and raising concerns. It seems that there is a growing focus on emotional issues. This book, "moonmood Art-Based Research: Publication and Exhibition Project," published by local publisher Fan Fan Ye, compiles a creative art event and exhibition content into a book. Comprising three volumes—"Black Book," "Gray Book," and "White Book"—it aims to promote awareness of emotional therapy in Macau and break down public stereotypes.

"Perhaps Macau is a city with squeezed spaces, where the physical distance between people is very close, making it impossible to resolve interpersonal tensions. Nature is also scarce, so many things are suppressed within, and one can only rely on their own abilities to resolve them. Macau society generally equates psychological needs with stereotypes such as 'madness' or 'mental illness.'" (Excerpt)

The "Black Book" introduces what art therapy is, records interviews with therapists, and shares the personal experiences of the initiators. What impressed me most was the self-narration of Ah Kang, one of the initiators, who meticulously described the onset of his illness and his thoughts at the time. What shocked me was that when a person experiences an episode, they are actually conscious. You might think that patients don't know what they are doing or are in a chaotic state, but in fact, they can clearly remember everything that happened. Perhaps I have never truly understood them.

Gao Ming, a Beijing writer, spent four years interviewing a group of psychiatric patients, or "mental patients" in your and my eyes, trying to find the answer to "What is this world really like?" In "Genius on the Left, Madman on the Right," he wrote: "To see the true world, one must see the sky with the eyes of the sky, clouds with the eyes of clouds, wind with the eyes of wind, flora with the eyes of flora, stones with the eyes of stones, the ocean with the eyes of the ocean, animals with the eyes of animals, and people with the eyes of people." Perhaps this empathetic understanding is the correct way to unlock the channels behind everyone's emotions and provide appropriate care.

The "Gray Book" contains notes from art therapy experience classes and shared experiences from public participants. Moonmood organized a series of experimental workshops and creative art therapy courses led by artists or therapists. Participants shared their insights and understandings, experiencing moments of emotional flow, and attempting to reconstruct their life experiences and meanings. It's like a shared diary, where everyone writes down their feelings about participating in the activities and shares them with readers.

The "White Book," on the other hand, is a small notebook for readers to record their feelings, but it's not entirely blank. Each page has different emotion-related words printed on it, such as "calm," "fulfillment," "communication difficulties," "empathy," etc. These are all emotions we constantly face in our lives. While this small notebook has many blank spaces, blankness signifies infinite possibilities, just as we can choose many ways to deal with our emotions.

I like this blank space because everyone should learn to find an appropriate outlet for their emotions.

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