Dolls4Peace Memorial

Abstract

This community/art based participatory research project encompassed communal art making practices (art as therapy) to build community, heal and resist systemic oppression and community violence, as well as promote self-care, empowerment, and a sense of purpose. Using an ecological model, participants engaged in community-based art therapy to build and heal communities impacted by gun violence. This "Doll Project" developed as a grassroots approach to arts-based social change—an ongoing cycle of creation, reflection and action with the hope to create a wave of healing and understanding through impacted Chicago communities. This process was intended to engage communities and embody the use of creativity to shift power and flatten hierarchies, largely by building up leadership of those most impacted by violence. The art of doll making was used to memorialize victims of gun violence in the city in record-high years of murders, while simultaneously creating a memorial of resistance, and initiating community-based adaptive change practices for social equity, connectedness, and liberation. Two questions are highlighted by this research: How does gun violence impact school communities within largely isolated, marginalized urban communities? How can we best support those who witness and survive gun violence?

Art Therapists as Activists in Social Movements

“…Second, the established activist images allow for a degree of anonymity in recognition of the political perils that could result from telling one's personal story – refugees, undocumented immigrants, survivors of domestic abuse or political violence. Art therapist Royster (2021) “Doll Project” is a meaningful example of utilizing a recognizable symbol that simultaneously permitted authentic storytelling with degrees of anonymity. Participants created dolls that were arranged in altars for memorializing, solidarity, and dialogue among survivors of gun violence as a component of sharing personal and familial narratives.…”