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The weeping eye of the Taniwha: an exploration of creative arts therapy, aco-distress and eco-poiesis in an age of ecological crisis.

By: Publication details: Auckland, N.Z. : Whitecliffe College, 2022Description: 100 pages ; colour illustrations : 30 cmSubject(s): Genre/Form: Online resources: Abstract: This research project was an autoethnographic, arts based, heuristic exploration of my feelings of eco distress. It was anchored in my sensory experience of a lake close to home that became a site of pollution and environmental damage. I set out to study the feelings that came alive as I immersed myself in this landscape over a period of five weeks. I observed what happened when I created in the spirit of ecopoiesis, creating in response to and in collaboration with my natural environment. I experienced and responded to nature with the understanding that I was in an intersubjective relationship with the ‘more than human’ beings in and around the lake, who became my teachers, therapists, and co-creators. A range of emotions emerged, and a range of internal voices or archetypes came to light in response to these experiences and the wider experience of global environmental crisis. My original aim was to discover which of these internal voices would be the most helpful. However, I found that each archetype had a unique gift if embraced. I discovered through my lived experience that eco poiesis was not only about love of my natural environment, but also acceptance and love of the multiple aspects of self. Co-creating with my natural environment, sometimes personified and subjectified, vital, and alive gave me a sense of taking action and agency. When I allowed the creative process to emerge without preconceived outcome, I had a sense of new understandings coming to light, bringing about the surprise of poiesis. As a beginning creative arts therapist, I started to have a sense of how I could work with clients in this nature connected way, especially those who are also experiencing distress about the environmental crisis.
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Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Notes Date due Barcode
Book Book Whitecliffe Library Dissertations Dissertations DISS 22-05 LUK (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Not For Loan PDF and hard copy available 0014461

In partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Master of Arts in Creative Arts Therapy (Clinical), Whitecliffe College, 2022.

Key words: Nature connected arts therapy, Ecopoiesis, Eco distress, Archetype, Intersubjectivity, Autoethnography, Arts based research

Contains bibliographical references (pages 85-92)

This research project was an autoethnographic, arts based, heuristic exploration of my feelings of eco distress. It was anchored in my sensory experience of a lake close to home that became a site of pollution and environmental damage. I set out to study the feelings that came alive as I immersed myself in this landscape over a period of five weeks. I observed what happened when I created in the spirit of ecopoiesis, creating in response to
and in collaboration with my natural environment. I experienced and responded to nature with the understanding that I was in an intersubjective relationship with the ‘more than human’ beings in and around the lake, who became my teachers, therapists, and co-creators. A range of emotions emerged, and a range of internal voices or archetypes came to light in response to these experiences and the wider experience of global environmental crisis. My original aim was to discover which of these internal voices would be the most helpful. However, I found that each archetype had a unique gift if embraced. I discovered through my lived experience that eco poiesis was not only about
love of my natural environment, but also acceptance and love of the multiple aspects of self. Co-creating with my natural environment, sometimes personified and subjectified, vital, and alive gave me a sense of taking action and agency. When I allowed the creative process to emerge without preconceived outcome, I had a sense of new understandings coming to light, bringing about the surprise of poiesis. As a beginning creative arts therapist, I started to have a sense of how I could work with clients in this nature connected way, especially those who are also experiencing distress about the environmental crisis.

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