Journey women: Art therapy in a decolonizing framework of practice

This paper presents the integration of art therapy in a decolonizing framework of practice used in a project called “Journey Women”. This framework of practice seeks to recognize and deconstruct the impacts of colonization and discrimination of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples and to empower and inform people in their healing journey. “Journey Women” was an art exhibit of large-scale “body-map” images depicting the healing experiences of eight Aboriginal women, created in a three-day arts-based workshop. The collaborative research project between Minwaashin Lodge and Concordia University aimed to gain an understanding of the conditions that contribute or challenge Aboriginal women in their process of healing from violence and the impacts of violence. This paper describes the process of creating body-maps that integrated an art therapy framework with traditional Aboriginal ceremonies of prayer, smudging, drumming, and singing as well as movement and grounding activities, poetry, and art creation. In this article, we discuss how a public exhibit of body-maps acted as a powerful medium of empowerment, a forum for women to be witnessed by the community, and a means for Aboriginal women to act as their own agents of social change and social justice.