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Connecting Us Back to Ourselves: Aesthetic Experience as a Means to Growth after Trauma

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  • Jill Bennett

    (Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC), University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
    fEEL-felt Experience & Empathy Lab., School of Art & Design, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia)

  • Gail Kenning

    (Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC), University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
    fEEL-felt Experience & Empathy Lab., School of Art & Design, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia)

  • Marianne Wobcke

    (Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC), University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia)

  • Lydia Gitau

    (Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC), University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
    fEEL-felt Experience & Empathy Lab., School of Art & Design, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia)

Abstract

This article examines the experience and effects of a trauma-responsive program that uses creative methods to address the ongoing psychosocial impacts of transgenerational trauma and youth suicide, which disproportionately affect First Nations people in Australia. Our aim is to understand how the aesthetic (sensory-affective) dimensions of such a program serve to promote experiences of growth after trauma, manifesting in a sense of connection to both self and community. The paper focuses on the second of two immersive, experiential workshops delivered seven months apart in the regional town of Warwick in Queensland, Australia. In the light of self-reports of growth and personal transformation following the initial workshop, the paper examines the key drivers of such growth, focusing in particular on how trauma-related experience is metabolised through cultural containment. It builds on Bion’s concept of container/contained, combining analysis of the affordances of immersion. Framed in cultural rather than medical terms, the larger goal of the paper is to establish how cultural programs fill a gap in trauma informed support, facilitating the processing of trauma.

Suggested Citation

  • Jill Bennett & Gail Kenning & Marianne Wobcke & Lydia Gitau, 2023. "Connecting Us Back to Ourselves: Aesthetic Experience as a Means to Growth after Trauma," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2023:i:1:p:20-:d:1307576
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jill Bennett & Gail Kenning & Lydia Gitau & Rebecca Moran & Marianne Wobcke, 2023. "Transforming Trauma through an Arts Festival: A Psychosocial Case Study," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-14, April.
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    1. Lynn Froggett & Jill Bennett, 2023. "Aesthetic Enactment: Engagement with Art Evoking Traumatic Loss," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-15, August.

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