Jars of Clay: The Body as a Container
Perhaps my biggest creative interests thus far has been the notion of body as a container, an idea that has been in-part inspired by my training as an art therapist, though is not exclusive to it.
Most recently, I have become interested in the religious notion of the bodies as a container for the spirit as in the Bible it describes how our bodies are like fragile jars of clay containing a great treasure (2 Corinthians 4: 7). Within this description, I’m particularly drawn to the perceived vulnerability or frailness of the body and can make tangible links to the individual who enters therapy feeling equally vulnerable or susceptible to falling apart. On the other hand, clay (when wet) is a malleable material with an infinite potential to be shaped, moulded or worked on.
In my own art making, my interest in clay is more to do with its malleability. A series of works I’ve started recently, whilst not made of clay, nonetheless resemble the dynamic qualities of clay being shaped on the potter’s wheel (see below). The image of clay being manipulated in this way is linked to my own understanding of therapy as a similarly transformative, yet hazardous, process.
In overview, whilst I have tried to say that these facets of containment are different, there is definitely room for crossover and a cross pollination of ideas. I’m particularly drawn to Bion’s concept of the therapeutic relationship as an anecdote for parts of the self that have become toxic and in need of neutralisation. In addition, I have become fond of the idea that one might reshape or reframe their way of thinking through the rigour of therapeutic intervention, something I know all too well from my own therapy.
The work I’m making now feels both similar and different from my previous body of work which was all about the relationship between physical actions and transcendence. On first glance, containment feels like a very different preoccupation to base one’s work around as it feels like the antithesis of movement and exceeding boundaries. Indeed, containment may have connotations to restriction or entrapment. However, containment, in a therapeutic context, is associated with safety and ensuring an environment to perpetuate a different sort of movement; a movement of the mind.
References:
Bible Gateway, (No Date), 2 Corinthians 4: 7 (New Living Translation), Available at: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%204:7&version=NLT (accessed: 27.7.14)
Edwards, D., (2004), Art Therapy, London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Milner, M., (2010), On Not Being Able to Paint, , East Sussex: Routledge (first published: 1950)
Skaife, S. & V, Huet, (1998), Art Psychotherapy Groups: Between Pictures and Words, Sussex: Routledge
