International Women’s Day and The Art of Self Expression Workshop, Toronto, Cananda
I was utterly humbled to be invited by my seventeen-year-old niece to run a workshop as part of the Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM ) programme for Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School in Toronto Canada. Together they had created a programme to celebrate International Women’s Day to empower females.
The first part of the programme was dedicated to Juliet’s Place, a shelter for women who face domestic abuse. The content and the information given was so important and useful that I even made notes. It was another important note to myself that it is never too early to have hard conversations with our young people. It is important to understand what domestic abuse means and understanding that it is not always about the physical abuse that is obvious to all. It can go much deeper and effectively destroy a person’s confidence and livelihood.
The second part was about Art as Therapy and The Art of Self Expression.
The whole event was very well organised by a collective of young and enthusiastic girls. Every detail was thought through, such a delight to be a part of it.
Last night I shared my personal story, deep from my soul. My aim was to just be my authentic self, allow them to see me for who I am with all my pains and glories. Maybe this is the only way we can make a real connection across the globe and via zoom. Anything I say can make an impression and not necessarily a positive one on young minds. I didn’t want to use empty words of false encouragement. So I went down a different lane… bearing my soul.
We came together to celebrate International Women's Day with a twist; to understand, accept and explore self-care through the process of making simple drawings. By slowing down and observing an object, or our own face in the mirror, without judgement we can help ourselves to regain some mental balance. At that moment when we are slowly observing, the mind will play all sorts of tricks to get our attention and pull us back, so often through unkind ‘self-talk’.
The secret is to allow the mind to say whatever it wants, to be aware of your thoughts but to ignore them, don’t engage with them. You’re not trying to clear your mind and have no thoughts, you’re diverting your attention away from them by continuing to focus on your features or the object in front of you. Notice how the light bounces off your skin. What colour is the iris of your eye? How many different shades and tones of colour can you see in your hair? By doing this, slowly, slowly, the mind will quieten and starts to let go, you will feel still, calmer and more focused on the task in hand. This is a form of meditation.
My main intention was to give them a tool for self-care. Something they could use when anxiety, self-criticism and self-doubt kicked in. I believe anxiety is a by-product of not using our creative energy. Engaging in the creative process helps us to release a lot of unwanted anxiety. In a digital era where everything seems to happen so quickly and everyone’s attention is focused on the NEXT thing, where people’s attention span is reducing every day, slowing down and observing an object of your desire can become like a treasure hunt. I would recommend you to take it seriously and see for yourself how it can help you.
So we started:
We began with aimless mark-making on the paper, using the arm to guide rather than the wrist.
We then spent 3 minutes observing our own faces in a mirror, studying ourselves and our features really closely.
We then started drawing while looking at our face in a mirror and allowing the hand to follow the eye really slowly.
Next, we drew with our eyes closed, allowing the hand to take over, to draw from memory.
Finally, we opened our eyes and made any corrections we wanted to our drawings and added colour.
Everyone was fully engaged and carried on with the drawing longer than I expected. The results were amazing even though I explained that in this practice we are not looking for results, the aim is to immerse ourselves in the present moment and to let go of any expectation of the end result. The mind is often used to going back or forward in time, which triggers anxiety and restlessness.
We know control is an illusion, yet we love to be in control of every aspect of our lives. By slowing down and drawing with our eyes closed we are giving our mind and hands some space to explore more possibilities.
I explained how much I love to use acrylic ink as my main medium when creating artworks as it’s only when I work with ink that I get to experience that feeling of lack of control and the joy that an ‘accident’ can bring!
I know the Universe had my back too, as my Zoom connection decided to play tricks on me and I had to use my mobile phone during my workshop! Everyone was amused yet I did demonstrate that when life throws you lemons make that damn lemonade and enjoy it!
Sharing this experience with my niece was also very precious to me. Sadly we have not been able to visit each other for the past nine years yet the bond we share is very much alive. It is really hard to express all of my emotions, but I can say my heart was singing with joy. It felt like a lucid dream. I had to pinch myself to be sure it was really happening.
