Published:
December 2021

Issue:
Vol.16, No.2

About the author

  • MMH, BSocSci, AThR

    Alana is a visual artist and clinical art therapist working in complex mental health, based on Brisbane’s southside. Alana believes the creative experience should be available to everyone regardless of skill level or art education. In her own practice, Alana leans on the use of coloured pencils to create surreal, whimsical landscapes and stories.

This work is published in JoCAT and is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND-4.0 license.

Synthesis / Marriage of two worlds

Alana Bosgra

Artist statement 

I work in community mental health as a clinical arts therapist in Brisbane. In my own practice as an artist, I have been reflecting on the complexity of ‘marrying two worlds’ – being both a mental health clinician and an artist. I find these are two completely different hats to wear, with two totally different processes, yet I know there is magic in the middle of this interweaving of clinical skills with the artistic process. This drawing is my reflection of these worlds and the magic that happens in the synthesis. 

Keywords

Art therapy, artist, clinical, metaphor, drawing, mental health.

Alana Bosgra, Synthesis / Marriage of two worlds, 2021, pencil and pen on cartridge paper, 594 × 841mm.