I recently watched a documentary called, "Culture of Resistance," by Caipirinha Productions, and has been playing on Free Speech TV. The film travels to several countries that have been war torn and shows how they are using the Arts to tell their stories. There were cartoonists, poets, all types of musicians, and obviously film makers, all with the goals of telling their history, telling of what they witnessed, telling of injustices and to promote peace. Not only are these people recording the history, they are in their communities teaching children, teaching women trades, or teaching the Culture of Resistance and what that means. The one comment that sticks in my mind was the elderly woman who counseled her country to accept love so that hate will never again enter their country. There was a man making gun guitars out of AK-47's. I would highly recommend this documentary. But while I was watching I wondered if the Arts could help in dealing with the effects of addiction. I mean if countries like Rwanda and the Congo are finding positive results, then why not.
Now I want to make it clear I am not talking about being in a psychiatric unit and making a wallet, unless you enjoy leather working. I can tell you that there is a difference between a crafting project, that you don't really want to do, and using the Arts to tell your story. No, these projects will be hard to see, read, or hear for those of us who have loved ones that are addicted, but if it is to be of any success it needs to reflect the reality of what addicts go through. At the same time the emotional trauma that the families have gone through needs to be given the same attention. That is also part of the Culture of Resistance; all people need representation if healing is to be accomplished.
So I would like to put out to the community to send us songs, stories, poems, pictures of you artwork, photographs you have taken. For those who may not feel they have talent, cooking, woodworking, and working with textiles are art forms too. Send us a recipe or a how to video. Pseudonyms are fine and you don't need to use names if writing a story. There is no deadline so no pressure there. Just send whatever you already have or start something today. Hope to see some interesting stuff
3 comments:
I think the idea is very sound, I think there are a lot of emotions that are involved in addictions of any kind and using art as a way to express them should be very therapeutic. I never thought of art to express things but in my own situation, I used to suffer from not an addiction, but depression and I discovered journaling and it did wonders for me.
Yes, I also have depression and writing does help. I have four children and two of them have been on drugs. One I was going to put on intervention but, he would have ran. I seem to be handling it better but, it is still very tough.
Yes, it is Harmony. I don't know if you have been withdrawn because you feel that people will judge you. I know that was part of my problem. Now I'm just to tired of this stuff to care. I hope that we can develop a sense of community here that we don't have to fear judgement. We have all been through it and no one can be harder on us than we have been ourselves. So I hope that this site will about healing and making progress in treating addiction. By examining different things that have worked in other countries and finding new ones. Finally, Harmoney, thank you for sharing. I know how hard it is to talk about addiction when it involves your children. Hugs and Prayers are headed your way.
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