Keep calm and carry on

Buddha head

 Its been another weird week, with more reminders of the dangers inherent in life on our planet. Meanwhile at home, things have been breaking down (fridge, internet, inbox) and I have been feeling irritable and unsettled at times. So this week's theme is the importance of two things: keeping calm and carrying on. 

I keep thinking about the horrific series of recent (mainly) natural disasters in Japan, the aftermath of which is still unfolding. Its too early to tell what the final analysis will reveal. Its clear that thousands of people have died, most drowned by the tsunami, and the threat of a nuclear disaster has been real enough to scare many more. The Japanese have been praised for their stoicism. The kiwis, too have been praised, by Prince William, no less, in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake. Similar comments were made after the floods in Queensland, bush-fires in Victoria two years ago, etc. etc. It seems that we need to reassure ourselves that we humans can cope with tragedy, and that part of coping well is being stoical and keeping calm. 

Some of you will know that I am a fan of Oliver Burkeman's column in the (British) Guardian. Funnily enough, this week he argues that keeping calm is overrated. He thinks being calm is ultimately boring, and does not lead to happiness. However, as a person with a tendency towards anxiety, I don't really agree, in fact I think its underrated.  Keeping calm is amazing! Also, as an art therapist, I work with a lot of clients (adults and children), who find it difficult to regulate their emotions, due to previous trauma. In their case, learning how to be calm is a quality of life issue - it represents a huge improvement on being on an emotional roller-coaster, much of the time. Whilst we all need a certain amount of stress, to get us through the day, enough is enough! 

Its all relative, in other words. Perhaps this explains the popularity of this poster (mug, t-shirt, etc.):

  

The poster was initially produced by the British Ministry of Information in 1939 during the beginning of World War II. It was intended to be distributed in order to strengthen morale in the event of a wartime disaster. Two-and-a-half million copies were printed, although the poster was distributed only in limited numbers. The designer of the poster is not known. (from Wikipedia).

Keeping going

The second phrase, 'carry on', whilst making me think of silly Ealing comedies with Sid James, Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Williams, is just as important as 'keeping calm'. Often interpreted as being about being British and 'keeping a stiff upper lip', it actually suggests the need to remain active, and to try to retain an element of normality, in the face of disaster. Or in other words, 'doing what matters'.

 Hope

This is something else I have been thinking about - see this blog by Jonathan Jones about public art and private grief. The question of public and private art is relevant to art therapists, since most art is made with the assumption that it will be seen, but this is not the case in art therapy, where the art is usually only seen by the therapist and the client. (This image is from the book I made while my father was dying in hospital last year, which I wrote about in my previous post...)

I was interested to hear of a current exhibition in Brisbane's Institute of Modern Art called 'Let the Healing Begin' . The review in the Australian says the exhibition: 'is rooted in art therapy. As the artists explore the therapeutic, they toy with making and undoing the self' - fair enough. But then...'Featuring a video in which Mike Parr chops off his arm and puts a knitted sock in its place...' I'm sorry, but what exactly does this have to do with art therapy? 

Of course, I have not seen the exhibition, so I should withhold judgement. However, alarm bells are ringing. I vividly remember being traumatised as a young child, by seeing a film of a severed limb (on the science show Tomorrow's World, which is like Catalyst), and recently I was involved in debriefing a colleague, who had seen a graphic image which upset her profoundly. Art therapy is about being very careful around imagery, and celebrating the work of a deliberate self-harmer (albeit also an artist) would seem to me to be the absolute opposite of art therapy. Or am I overreacting? - I'd like to know what others think about this...

Meanwhile I am exhibiting some art myself this week - in an exhibition about culture and identity, 'Cultural me, cultural you', at the Mater Hospital, opening today 21st March, as it is Harmony Day. I will include photos in my next post.

(NB I thought the fridge and internet were fixed, but there were more problems with the internet connection, whilst I tried to post this, last night. However, it seems to be working again now. Note to Telstra technician: thanks for the spiritual advice, I know that you are concerned about humanity, and that you believe that god can replace people's bad thoughts which result from stress, with better ones, but next time, please stick to fixing my broken internet).

more later.