‘Thorny Core’ being with the part of the parent the child is afraid of, the part that snaps, shames and degrades with varying degrees of awareness. September 2024. ‘All that I am’ incorporating the colours a child employed in their work, blending and manipulating the page to integrate their ruptured experiences as part of their whole. November 2024.
These are painting that I make, often with leftover paints following a child counselling session, which help me stay with and process some of the content of the session itself. I may choose to be an emotion the child or young person was struggling to be with themselves, or at times, envisioning something for them, like integrating an experience into their whole being and in time, making meaning of it for themselves.
‘I am sad, I am OK’ staying with feelings of sadness a young child struggled to be with. Holding for them what their carers are struggled to hold, and hoping these feelings are acknowledged in time to allow for a process of grieving. February 2025.
starakin 