Art Therapy for Peace: Art is a Path to Self-Healing

The Art Therapy for Peace session in this BPW 2025 series presented a profound experience regarding how art becomes a medium for healing and a path toward one's inner depth. Beginning with a breathing process, body reflection, and continuing with drawing, participants were invited to realize their deepest emotions (whether anger, sadness, or anxiety) and learn to release them with full patience. Art in this case is not only a form of expression, but also a safe space to dialogue with oneself.

Anne Holland emphasized the importance of bringing forth self-awareness. Through learning breathing techniques and body movements, participants were given the opportunity to distance themselves from negative emotions, then see how those emotions work within. This process provides the realization that peace does not come from the outside, but rather begins from inner self-reconciliation. Meanwhile, Judy Greenberg added that art is an honest body language. Every line, color, and shape drawn on paper is a representation of emotions that cannot be expressed with words. Through this activity, participants were invited to feel what their minds and bodies were feeling. Those feelings arise on their own because the body is an honest part of expressing one's feelings. Through drawing activities, participants learn to accept that all emotions are part of humanity that deserves to be appreciated.

On line Art Therapy Session with Anna Holland and Judy Greenberg in Bandung Peace Week 2025

Peaceful Transformation

The interesting thing about this Art Therapy for Peace session was the transformation of drawings from anger towards peace. The change in those drawings was not just art, but a symbol of an inner journey. Participants were taught to realize that peace is a choice that needs to be practiced. Even when the outside environment is not conducive, peace can still be presented through imagination, reflection, and also art practice. This activity illustrates that inner peace is not an abstract thing, but a real experience that can be felt physically when one practices feeling it repeatedly.

From collective reflection, an awareness emerged that art has the power to connect humans with themselves as well as others. When negative emotions are released through art, connections between individuals can also be healthier because they are no longer overshadowed by the anger or offense that had arisen. This means that art can create an encounter space full of respect, where everyone is valued regardless of their background. From that, changes or peaceful transformations can be carried out wholeheartedly.

In-person Art Theraphy session in House of Peace in Bandung Peace Week 2025

Call for Peace

This Art Therapy for Peace session is hoping to inspire that world peace cannot be separated from indivisual inner work. Efforts to create world peace can start from a simple thing: that is, with how an individual makes peace with themselves. Art itself offers its way as an honest mirror, as a vessel for expression, as well as a bridge toward self-acceptance. When individuals are able to find and obtain inner peace, they can be ready to become peacemakers within the scope of the family, community, and even the wider society. Thus, this session was not just an art session, but a spiritual and emotional exercise. Art teaches me to be willing, with humility, to listen to myself, accept emotions, and process them into something more meaningful. The hope is that it does not just stop at the memory of the session alone, but is practiced in daily life. In other words, responding to that call for peace by creating peace from within to then share it outward.

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Author       : Albert Giovanni Siswanto (Volunteer BPW 2025 & Member of Young Interfaith Peacemaker Community West Java)
Editor        : Anisa Eka Putri Kusmayani
Translator  : Ari Budi Santosa