Graffiti As Therapy
One of the ongoing challenges that The Teresa Group’s Leading the Way group therapy program has been successful in providing a forum for children and youth to express feelings related to living in families affected by HIV and AIDS. One of the challenges has been finding innovative and creative programming for youth who have been members of the group for a long time (for some almost 10 years!). The activities must be age appropriate and continue to allow a venue to express feelings and have fun. Some may question why we would bring graffiti forward as mode of expression – as adults are we not supposed to tell youth that graffiti is illegal and they should stay away from it? Let’s be clear that we are not promoting graffiti as a way to deface public property, rather, the Leading the Way facilitators looked to graffiti as a way to allow the youth to express themselves creatively through an art medium that they would find engaging and that is part of youth culture, but in a socially acceptable venue. The facilitators know that they must be able to speak the language of the youth’s inner world if they are to promote movement and growth. Art serves as a universal language for the therapeutic process, and one that can be embraced by adolescents without having to surrender their need for individuation.
What kid doesn’t want to pick up a spray can without fear of repercussion and mark their stamp on the world? The next step was to find a skilled graffiti artist who could also be a positive role model for the youth – enter Mediah, a charismatic artist who gladly dedicated eight Saturdays to work with the kids. Mediah first began his exploration into graffiti art at the age of 15. Submerging himself in the street art subculture, he began to experiment and build a repertoire of urban calligraphy and flowing dynamic forms that would eventually lead to his famed full-colour letter pieces and murals throughout Toronto, Scarborough and Montreal. Mediah’s own background connected him to the youth in the group – he understood what stigma and discrimination felt like and was able to help the youth to explore their feelings related to living in families affected by HIV through graffiti. Trained formally as a new media/digital artist, Mediah is well established and respected in North American and Europe and as such was a positive role model. Giving the youth the opportunity to be able to connect with and be influenced by someone they could relate to and respect was an important part of the overall experience.
At first the kids were very tentative and shy about using the spray cans, as if they questioned if they were really allowed to do this. Those first initial pumps on the cans saw the kids jump back in surprise and then gradually become more comfortable with the paint. Fifteen kids participated in the canvas mural which is a breathtaking expression of their feelings around living with and being affected by HIV. The words on the canvas say it all - fear, pain, feel, love, spirit, dream, love, hope, faith, survive. While some of the words indicate sadness and fear, others are positive and point to feelings of hope for the future. Perhaps the most telling of what is written is the phrase – ‘I am positive hear me out’. Adolescence is certainly a time when youth yearn for independence and want their voices to be heard. For youth affected by HIV, this natural yearning is often tempered by the need to remain tied to one’s family as a support, or the continuing need for support themselves. Their voices are often silenced by the need to keep HIV a secret from the world. The resulting set of conflicting emotions can interfere with their need to separate themselves as individuals. The graffiti art has given the youth a canvas to express this emotion. The result is a poignant reminder of the emotional toll that this disease often takes on the youngest members of a family. While the kids were told that with their permission we would like to use the banner for the The Teresa Group’s international symposium in Vienna, they were given no other direction. Their creation is theirs alone, their expression of who they are and what they want the world to know about them. While there voices have been silenced by the ongoing stigma associated with HIV, their art speaks volumes about their creativity, passion and intelligence. We thank them for sharing their voices with us.
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