The Revealing Image 25 years On | 16th March 2018

An Exploration of Trauma mediated through Jungian Analysis and Art Psychotherapy

A one-day workshop with Professor Joy Schaverien

London, 16 March 2018 (Friday) 10:00am – 4:00pm

The workshop starts with a discussion of theories first proposed in Joy Schaverien’s seminal work The Revealing Image: Analytical Art Psychotherapy in Theory and Practice. In the 25 years since its publication, this book has continued to be a core textbook for art psychotherapy and Jungian trainings in the UK and internationally.
The book bridges a perceived gap between Jungian picture interpretation and art psychotherapy. In light of Joy’s work as a Jungian analyst, this day will consider ideas first elucidated in the book:

• diagrammatic and embodied images;
• the talisman and the scapegoat transference; and
• the distinction between symbols in pictures and artworks as symbolic objects

The premise is that in working with trauma the artwork has a particular role in revealing, and so bringing into the light of consciousness, that which may otherwise remain unseen. The multiple gazes embodied in the artwork evoke aesthetic elements in the transference and countertransference; these include:

• the gaze of the picture,
• the gaze of the client/artist and
• the gaze of the therapist/viewer

This day will offer a combination of theory, visual case studies, and a discussion of participant’s own practice. It will interest all therapists who use art in their clinical
practice: Jungian analysts, psychotherapists and counsellors as well as art psychotherapists and creative therapists of different modalities. It will be of interest to those whose clients regularly use art materials and those who do so occasionally.

Qualified art psychotherapists and trainees, fa1niliar with the book may be interested to see how the theories developed in this influential text continue to be useful in Jungian analytic practice today.