Post-conflict Art And Reality: Transforming Realities
When we grow up witnessing the suffering in an environment of violence, it is difficult to draw strength to keep up the pace of life, even after the violent situation has ceased. However, there is a way to transform these overwhelming realities : the secret is in the connection between art and post-conflict reality.
When we talk about post-conflict reality, we are referring to all the events that follow the disappearance of a conflict with the peace accords. Now, what is the connection between art and post-conflict reality? Why does this link transform realities?
The link between art and post-conflict reality
Art and post-conflict reality are linked in different ways. Let’s see some bridges:
- These two elements allow us to talk about phenomena. Post-conflict reality makes it possible to tell stories through the accompaniment of victims. This reality goes hand in hand with the generation of resources, the strengthening of institutions and the social processes of forgiveness. Art tells stories through creative processes.
- They allow us to share stories. Post-conflict reality shows the reality of past violence. Collective issues can also be represented in art through creation.
- They touch the deepest aspects of the human being. They affect emotions, thoughts and behavior. In post-conflict reality, thanks to the traumatic experiences that are evoked. In art, because of the unconscious processes that occur in creation.
- These are two ways to transform anxieties. In post-conflict reality, through recomposition, that is, through activities that lead to preserving peace and rebuilding what has been lost. With art, we can transform pain by reshaping the traumatic situation.
Art, a transformative element
Art can be a transforming element of realities because it is a form of language. It allows us to express ourselves.
After a traumatic experience, it is very difficult to put into words what has happened to us and even to be able to recognize and express it. In these cases, art could function as a vehicle, that is, as the medium by which we can express ourselves.
Why does it work? Because trauma can be difficult for our consciousness to access, we may even experience a sea of emotions and thoughts that we cannot handle. Through art we can begin to convey our feelings, and with the help of images we can gradually build what has been shattered.
Art is therefore a tool that can prove useful in a post-conflict reality. Here are the reasons:
- It helps to build a collective language.
- Collective creative processes promote a sense of identity, empathy and even motivation.
- It protects from isolation, because through art the person can connect with himself and with others.
- It is a way of realizing the trauma and of seeking support, either by feeling contained in the art, or by other forms such as psychotherapy.
Art is a transformer of realities, because it is a way to stop being a prisoner of the past while maintaining the suffering. It motivates us to learn a new way of dealing with what has happened. So it’s a kind of bridge that helps us transform what overwhelms us so much into something healthier for our mind.
After going through a period of violence, life is far from easy. Art can be the way to integrate into our history what has hurt us so much.
However, the process can only work if the will is there. On the other hand, it should be emphasized that there are groups and political, social and educational strategies that study each post-conflict process, so that the intervention is as fair as possible, since each conflict has its specificity.
Art, resilience and post-conflict reality
As art leads us to transform traumatic realities, it can also be a factor of resilience. Boris Cyrulnik, French neurologist, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst expert in art, conflict and resilience processes, tells us about it.
Cyrulnik explains that post-conflict processes invite to develop resilience and that art is a useful tool to develop this capacity. In his lecture on resilience and art, he shows how, in Colombia, after more than 50 years of war, art can be a valuable element in cultivating this ability to overcome adversity.
There are countless ways to seed resilience through art. Cinema, opera, literature, photography, painting or even music are just a few examples.
Additionally, Cyrulnik views psychotherapy as another art form, as it too can help transform trauma. Those who devote themselves to it, transform anxiety into language that the person who has lived through the traumatic experience can understand.
Art is transformative if we use it correctly. It helps to develop individual and collective resilience in people who have suffered trauma after the war. This is not the only alternative, but the one which, from the expression, opens the way for people with severe pain. It is a form of liberation from the past.
Let us release the pain and the anguish. And let us use art to transform ourselves and be instruments of peace for us and our community.
Our thoughts Psychoanalysis and art have always gone hand in hand, because artistic expression tells us about what we are, consciously and unconsciously.
