Active Imagination
‘The term active imagination was applied By Jung to refer to a means of mobilizing the psyche through an image or a chain of images and their related associations. It is a ‘concentration on some impressive but intelligible dream image, or on a spontaneous visual impression, and [one] observes the changes taking place in it.’
(Schaverien citing Jung, 2005: 40)
In starting back on my course last week we’ve started a new module relating to symbols as the language of the unconscious. As part of an exercise we were told story called Sealskin, Soulskin, taken from Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run with the Wolves. With my eyes closed I tried to envision what the story would like through my minds eye. We were then asked to think about a part of the story that spoke to us and to make an art work in response.
Something that resonated with me was the description of ‘a man so lonely that over the years, tears had carved great chasms into his cheeks’(Estés, 2008:255). I envisioned these tears to be like a waterfall flowing down into a ravine. Upon revisiting the story this week I started to consider why these themes had held so much meaning for me. I started to think about people’s willingness to cry and how I myself couldn’t remember the last time I had cried openly. I wondered what that would feel like and decided to make an artwork to convey these feelings. .
As in previous posts, I found myself returning to the idea of the container though this time I felt I coming at it from a different direction. I started off by making a funnel out of paper and tacking the end with a piece of masking tape (see opposite). I wanted to fill it with liquid and with this in mind I began to pour watery ink into the funnel. Initially the funnel-form seemed up to the task of containing the liquid although gradually the paper became sodden with ink and started to leak out of the bottom. A short while later the paper began to feel heavy and soggy in my hands. I worried that it might spill all over the floor if I didn’t do something with it. I maneuvered my way over to the sink and decided to untape the funnel. Unsurprisingly the ink flowed freely out of the bottom; it was thoroughly satisfying – an instant release.
This continuous flow of thinking, prompted by the story and then developed as an art work, is linked to Jung’s description of active imagination. Active imagination is the process by which someone may discover an image that is visualized or dreamt. The individual is then encouraged to contemplate a fragment of the fantasy that seems important to them until its contents becomes visible (Schaverien citing Jung, 2005: 40). In this activity for instance, I’d become particularly drawn to the part of the story which described the man’s tears which then lead me to consider my own emotional wellbeing.
Within the group discussion, someone commented that because I could cry myself I’d made something that could ‘cry’ for me. My tutor on the other hand described how people often hide their innermost feelings alluding to the Jungian notion of the persona; a kind of mask that the individual presents to the world. Unsurprisingly active imagination, as the name suggests, is a dynamic process; the image generates ‘psychological movement’ (Schaverien, 2005: 41). Whilst on the surface the making of the funnel was a pragmatic response to the story, the dramatic element of pouring the liquid into the funnel and letting it spill out of the bottom spoke to me at a deeper level about a personal need to control or contain my emotions. Moreover there are parallels with a previous blog postings in which words and phrases like ‘blocked’, ‘flow’ and ‘containment’ are often repeated.
References
Estés, C. P., (2008), Women Who Run with the Wolves, London: Rider
Schaverien, J., (2005), ‘Art and active imagination: Reflections on transference and the image’, International Journal of Art Therapy, 50 (2) pp. 39-52, available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17454830500345959 (accessed: 02.10.13)
