Debra Bryant

Group Dynamic Dancing

Artwork size: 46cm x 35.5cm

Artwork medium: Acrylic paint and collage on canvas

Group art therapy can at times feel like a dance: balancing diverse personalities, ensuring each voice finds its rhythm, and supporting individual creativity into a harmonious group choreography.

In group art therapy sessions, participants bring their unique perspectives and experiences. As an art therapist working with diverse populations in two distinct environments, I facilitate group sessions where participants engage in various stages of creative expression and interaction. This can pose both challenges and opportunities in the stages of group development as individuals become acquainted, face conflicts and disagreements, establish cohesion, collaborate towards group and personal goals, fostering growth, and navigate transitions to other groups or settings.

This artwork reflects my experiences witnessing individuals within a group dynamic, dancing and navigating through these various stages. At times they harmonise in a shared rhythm, while at others, they grapple with discordant notes, each person striving to find their place in this evolving composition.