Through photography and a mural The Yall Art Project at the SHE Rescue Home helps young girls heal after suffering from trauma whose lives were affected by the sex trafficking industry in Cambodia. The healing process has begun by teaching them the basics of photography and creative self-expression. The Yall Art Project strives “to create a process that begins with nurturing the students as individuals by exploring their personal expression and ends with a group collaboration that highlights how each individual contributed to the whole.” We are grateful to Catherine W. Hart who is the partner with Daniel DeBlasio, in the Yall Art Project, for writing this inspirational article. It is part of our ongoing “Artists’ Stories” series about artists who are helping to bring positive change for individuals, society and/or the environment through art.
Rewriting Healing Stories With Photography and A Mural
By Catherine W. Hart
The ability to express ourselves through the arts is something that no one can take away from us. We carry our creative nature with us wherever we go. Encouraging growth and healing through the act of being creative awakens us to our most valuable tool — our own inner strength and sense of self worth. To nurture this within ourselves and to solidify that we carry this with us always, can be the beginning of a path towards healing and rewriting our stories after trauma.
This was the basis from which we approached our project in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with the girls of SHE Rescue. The Yall Art Project was invited to spend five weeks with 13 young girls ages 3-16 whose lives had been affected by the sex trafficking industry. We were asked to help the girls create a mural for their new safe room in their rescue home.
Our process began by giving each girl their own camera and teaching them the basics of photography. Daniel DeBlasio created assignments that would give each student a chance to connect to their own self expression and share the lens through which they see the world. He gave them the tools to take better photographs so they could more easily express themselves through learning about perspective, composition, lighting, still life and portraiture.
The camera acted as a safe barrier for each child to feel comfortable emerging creatively. Because the girls had limited access to the world outside their rescue home, we created assignments that took us on photography field trips and taught them how to set up creative still lifes within their home. The girls also had a lot of fun using their newfound photography skills to create self portraits and portraits of each other.
The intention of these assignments was to foster a safe place to explore a sense of freedom and play. Also, simple acts of creating self portraits from how you wish to express yourself can be a way to reclaim your identity after trauma.
We then used their imagery as a launching point to teach drawing and painting as preparation for the mural. We explored color mixing, collaging, and drawing from the photographs before we started translating the imagery to the wall. Using themes from their pictures that expressed their sense of identity, beauty, safety, and joy, we gave the girls creative assignments to get this imagery on the wall in an interactive way.
Because the girls were painting the mural in their safe room, we wanted each layer they added to represent an experience they had with each other. Especially the experiences they enjoyed outside of the rescue home because it represented a new outside world, one that they had control over and reflected their own joy. Each session offered some message of healing so they could paint it and see it in real time.
We began by creating mandalas from their favorite photographs because there is something soothing about repetition and the mandala represents a sense of completeness. Soon animals from the photos of our field trip to the zoo began showing up in the mural and two silhouettes emerged in the forefront representing all the girls, which became the reminder that they are true creators, capable of creating their dreams.
By working together towards something they are collectively proud of, it allowed them to build trust with their peers, an important aspect of cultivating a sense of security in their safe room.
When the mural was complete, we gathered for a graduation and art show. We hung up all their amazing photographs and drawings along side the mural to celebrate all they accomplished together.
The cameras were donated to SHE Rescue so that the girls could continue to explore their newfound love of photography and continue to explore their self expression.
We also created an online store of their beautiful photographs with 100% of the proceeds going back to the SHE Rescue home in Phnom Penh.
We also hope that during this process it awakens a spark that allows for the path of healing to unfold.
Visit the Yall Art Project website to learn more about it and its other projects at yall-art-project.com
View the artwork created through Yall Art Project in an online store at artists/yall+artproject
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