Participants in Laudy's art therapy class begin the first phase of the process on July 4, 2024. (Credit: Marguerita Sejaan/L'Orient Today)
Almost a dozen people, young and old, sit in the Nadine Fayad Gallery in Achrafieh’s lively Tabaris area, while Laudy stands in the middle and asks them, “What represents heritage to you?”
The art therapy session was part of Beirut Art Days. (Credit: Marguerita Sejaan/L'Orient Today)
Almost like a switch, this sentence is enough for them to come up with a million ideas a minute. Some begin ripping up colored cardboard and start to fingerpaint, while others stick to pencils and crayons.
Throughout the entire session, people walking down the street peer through the big glass doors. Halfway through, a man in his 70s walks in and asks what everyone is doing.
“It’s an art therapy session,” Laudy tells him. He’s in.
Participants in Laudy's art therapy class begin the first phase of the process on July 4, 2024. (Credit: Marguerita Sejaan/L'Orient Today)
Laudy Kareh is only 24 but she recalls feeling like she’s had a calling for art therapy her whole life, she just never knew it was an option.
“I always knew I loved art and teaching, so I figured I’d become an art teacher,” she recounts. She began her studies in Fine Arts at the Lebanese University, graduating with a bachelor's degree and then later obtaining a master’s degree.
“Still, I felt like something was missing,” she said.
It wasn’t until about a year ago, when her professors introduced her to the Japanese philosophical concept of ikigai, the Japanese word for “a passion that gives value and joy to life,” that she felt like she found herself.
“All signs pointed to art therapy,” she said. Now she’s pursuing a master’s diploma in art therapy and plans to open her clinic here in Beirut.
Laudy Kareh, art therapist, July 4, 2024. (Credit: Marguerita Sejaan/L'Orient Today)
Art therapy, a term first coined in 1942 by British artist Adrian Hill, has gained acclaim worldwide as a new wave of psychotherapy that allows the client to interact freely with the artwork as a way to process whatever is on their mind.
“The communication between ourselves, our thoughts and our physical body is always non-verbal,” Laudy explains, “That’s what makes art therapy so unique, it mimics the type of communication you have with yourself.”
Many clients do not feel comfortable divulging details of their lives to therapists, or maybe they do not have the words for certain situations yet, and that’s where artistic expression comes into play. It feeds off the idea that non-verbal communication is innate to us.
Certain tell-tale signs can let you into how someone is feeling, Laudy explains. For example, clients who are the anxious type will usually start their sessions off with pencils and erase a lot. Usually, clients’ art becomes more colorful as the sessions go on, representing their comfort in this new world. “The art-making process is as important as the final artwork.”
An artwork by one of the participants. (Credit: Marguerita Sejaan/L'Orient Today)
Back in her session at the gallery, she first asks the participants to do anything they want to the paper for 10 minutes. They can rip or cut it, or use paint and crayons to let a certain feeling out. Once everyone is warmed up and comfortable in the space and with the material, Laudy tells them the session’s theme.
Standing between paintings of Lebanese artist Raouf Rifai, whose work features “Darwish,” a man who represents his hometown of Baalbeck and his identity and heritage, Laudy asks, “Who is your Darwish?”
The prompt is to encourage the participants to make artwork about their roots, and what they feel their identities are tied to. If they feel like they have no specific heritage they feel connected to, Laudy invites them to invent one they want to start putting forth in their life.
Laudy leads her art therapy session. (Credit: Marguerita Sejaan/L'Orient Today)
Her session was held just a few days after the Public Health Ministry unveiled a seven-year mental health strategy, in partnership with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), to better cater to mental health needs in Lebanon. In a country that lived through a COVID-19 lockdown, the deadly Aug. 4 explosion and an ongoing war in the south, all while facing a worsening economic crisis, it’s not a surprise that mental health crises and suicide rates are rising like never before.
“Mental health care is crucial in these situations, but it’s just not accessible,” Laudy said, referring to therapists’ exorbitant prices, which could reach up to $60-80 a session.
Part of the ministry’s unveiled plan is an application with videos by professionals that would talk viewers through self-therapy and create healthy coping mechanisms. Laudy suggests that everyone should try their hand at art therapy for that same reason.
At night before bed, or in the morning before a long day, build a “judgment-free” zone for yourself, with materials you are comfortable with, and release any stresses and anxieties on the paper, Laudy suggests.
“What’s so beautiful about art therapy to me is that you can feel free,” Laudy said.
