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Art therapy offers a window into the impact of Philly violence
The 29-year-old Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia was holding its first exhibition of art therapy.
Art therapy offers a window into the impact of Philly violence
Without a doubt, the most poignant exhibition to open last week was not in any of the galleries on the Old City First Friday circuit. It was across Center City at Art Sanctuary, (628 S. 16th St.), where the 29-year-old Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia was holding its first exhibition of art therapy. The show runs through Oct. 18.
Rayne Parker-Jones was displaying a semi-abstract battle of darkness against light. At 16, she’s seen way too much of the dark stuff: her parents were both killed before she was 14, and she herself was shot in the leg while walking home from a park. But with a grin, the West Oak Lane resident and aspiring nurse says she can envision a day when it’s all sunshine.
Like Parker-Jones, all the artists have been affected by the surging violence that Philly, despite a variety of law-enforcement efforts, can’t see to curb. Deb Spungen, who founded the partnership in 1983, five years after her daughter was murdered, says that — unfortunately, and for the first time ever — the partnership now has a several-months-long waiting list for children’s therapy. Its major source of funding, a Victims of Crime Act grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, was cut by significantly this year with little advance notice, meaning the partnership has had to operate leaner than ever. So the therapists are mostly part-time, says executive director Julie Rausch. But that’s a good thing, actually, since “this is an area that’s susceptible to vicarious traumatization.” One therapist had to quit after suffering chronic nightmares.
The Partnership keeps staffers at the Medical Examiner’s office, where family members go to identify bodies; at the District Attorney’s office; and at the Criminal Justice Center, where they try to be there for families at preliminary hearings in every murder case in the city — a tall order this year. With the exhibition, they’re hoping to boost awareness. Art therapy isn’t the only means they use, says therapist Rebecca Selvin, but its helpful, especially for kids. “Trauma is stored on the right side of your brain,” she says. That’s also where pictures and emotions reside; words keep to the left. “Particularly for children who don’t have the means to create words, creating art gives them access to heal through the right side.”
The works, some hopeful and others heartbreaking, were created especially for the exhibit. Though board member Anthony Johnson considered it a success, he’s not sure it will be an annual thing. “It’s fun for the kids to create the art, but it can be really traumatic. So I’m not sure how often we can ask them to do that.”
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