Toward a social critical, analytical prism in art therapy: The example of marginalized Bedouin women's images

• This paper outlines a typology of visual compositional mechanisms for understanding client’s art that are based in a social critical paradigm.
• This typology of six compositional mechanisms will reveal that the visual arts have inherent compositional elements that are especially suited to the basic principles of social critical theories.
• The literature survey covers the use of art according to systemic, empowerment and social change theories and provides a theoretical base for analyzing images through social theories.
• The typology is illustrated by analyzing images of a group of marginalized Bedouin women’s art work, as an example of a group dealing with social marginalization.

This paper outlines a typology of visual analytical prisms based on social critical theories. Four compositional art analysis paradigms are presented. These include (a) two descriptive analytical prism-compositional analyses of spatial division for resources in the system, (b) compositional analyses of the reciprocal relationship between figure and background, or micro and macro levels of experience, and two transformative analytical prisms, (c) using compositional mechanisms as a way to self-define content for marginalized and silenced groups, and (d) using visual language to shift static social stands and negotiate multiple perspectives. Each of these analytical prisms is explained and illustrated using images created by Bedouin women in Israel, who are an Indigenous group experiencing marginalization. Implications for including a typology and methodology for using social theories to analyze art in art therapy are discussed.