Desensitivity training

So I volunteered to help the crisis center with their gallery of therapeutic artwork for the arts festival. I have been attending training sessions to view some of it ahead of time, since I will need to be able to speak about the content and the artists. I can't volunteer at the festival if I can't discuss the art and exactly what it represents. That includes "desensitizing" myself to some of the more extreme accounts, which they say is important for a volunteer to do. I can't be emotionally drained by something people are going to expect me to discuss. Most of the art is by survivors, but some is done in honor of them. My friends of the Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority put on an excellent event to make their own exhibit to put in the display. We got these plaster theatrical masks and painted them to portray the problem of "masking" violence and pretending it doesn't exist. We have nearly a hundred masks that will go on display. They're really moving to see because "masking" violence is a huge problem. Most of the time, people just act like it doesn't happen or that it only happens to someone else.

Unfortunately, we're all someone else to someone else. The horrors of abuse aren't just confined to one group or one region or one person.

Art therapy is clearly one of the greatest things EVER created, as it allows survivors of psychological trauma to channel their pain and frustrations and anger into something beautiful and intense. I don't know how long it's been around, but it is seriously something amazing. And art is an excellent way to get the message across. Do you like the movies and novels Sin City and V for Vendetta? Credit it to art therapy. The former was actually the author's way of coping with an anxiety problem. At the gallery, we have art by survivors of domestic violence, hate crimes, and rape (although if you see one of my earlier posts, I'd classify rape and domestic violence AS hate crimes). They make some of the most intense art I have ever seen. We made a Clothesline project to display on the quad, which features survivor stories written on actual clothes. It's a way of airing out the "dirty laundry" of the ugly side of life. That stuff has made several viewers really angry, since it can be pretty extreme and explicit. But it's also drawn a lot of positive attention from people who may not have known about that problem or have experienced it.

The art is pretty awesome. It is exactly what that word means--awe-inspiring. It's heartbreaking and hopeful and deep and enraged and [insert your favorite adjective here]. Some of the survivors have painted, some have made sculptures, two featured have made full-length graphic novels. (I've read one named Just the Beginning: And So My Troubles Began which is one of the most saddening stories ever written. The only copy is owned by the crisis center, and they showcase it at every informational session/booth they have. My friend who works there says that ever since it was completed, they've gotten twenty people offering to buy it, even though it is not for sale.) When you think of how much these people have gone through and then how many have been able to rebuild and repair their lives, it's hopeful. That's one of the most inspiring things I have ever witnessed, the rebuilding of lives and strength and trust.