Transforming the trauma of the victims of violence: an experience in artistic education

Abstract

This article presents an experience of artistic education with victims of violence, the final objective of which is not the production of works of art, but the immersion in a process of development of a consciousness of the mind-body unity and of artistic expression, through which the participants could positively transform their traumas. This process was undertaken in the context of the Cuidarte project. An act of life for the people who were victims of sociopolitical violence, through the means of a workshop called Art and Healing, in which the participants incorporated techniques that link mind and body in order to regulate their levels of psychophysical activation and reach the relaxation response (massages, breathing techniques and corporal exercises derived from performance); they carried out activities to develop sensitivity and consciousness of bodily sensations; they performed exercises oriented toward the artistic expression of bodily sensations liked

with their traumatic experiences, and they applied a method of pre- and post-evaluation in order to verify the effects of these exercises on their muscular tone as an indicator of the advances reached by these participants in their mind-body in relation to their sensation of power in the face of the trauma they had experienced. At the end of the workshop, the participants reported significant advances in the process of positive transformation of the traumas produced by violence.