Artist brings creative therapy to conflict survivors
Friday 1 September 2017
A POSTGRADUATE student is helping people affected by war in the Middle East use art to express their thoughts and fears.
Tracy Fenton,
an MA student studying creative education at the University of Salford, moved
to Erbil in northern Iraq earlier this year to become the first ever artist in
residence at the city’s University of Kurdistan Hewler (UKH).
Tracy had
previously set up the Artfantastic community interest company running creative
therapy sessions for emotionally disturbed people, victims of domestic violence
and refugees in her home town of Bolton, and felt drawn to use the same skills
for people in the Kurdish city.
Although Erbil
is in a politically stable region of Iraqi Kurdistan, the city sits just an
hour’s drive away from Mosul, recently recaptured from IS control in a fierce
attack involving thousands of troops.
Tracy’s new
students include internally displaced people (IDPs), as well as interpreters
who work on the front line, but she says most people studying there have been
affected by the nearby conflict in some way.
Others are
members of families who have been affected by conflict for generations,
including victims of chemical war from the Saddam regime.
Although she
runs regular art lessons at UKH, she operates an open door policy and encourages
all students and staff to come in to her newly created workshop where they can
use art to express their feelings.
Tracy also runs weekly sessions in which members of the public can come to the studio, use the facilities and benefit from taking part in the creative process.
Passive victims of war
She explained:
“Some of the students are passive victims of war, who have been affected by the
conflict but not directly involved in it. But because they’ve been around
conflict, some of them are very fragile and there are a lot of different
emotions on display. You hear them say ‘it’s going to happen again’ or ‘what’s
that sound’ when a van pulls up outside.
“It is very
safe here but you see evidence of the war all the time. There are army
helicopters passing overhead and there are soldiers with AK-47s on every street
corner.”
Tracy, aged 49,
said she felt a pull to come over to Kurdistan and e-mailed the university’s
vice chancellor explaining who she was and what she wanted to do. Within three
days, she had been given the job.
She had to
start from scratch when she arrived earlier year, as there was no art equipment
and no studio areas as the university had never ran any kind of art programme
before – with many of her students having never previously held a paint brush.
Although the students would previously have only been encouraged to study science and engineering, Tracy says she has discovered some ‘world class’ talent there, with some students going on to display their work at the nearby United States Consulate, and others starting to make a living by selling it at the local bazaar.
Therapeutic benefits of art
But she
believes the therapeutic benefits of art is the most important element of her
work.
Tracy said: “A
lot of my work is about getting people to express themselves, which is
something that isn’t usually encouraged in the culture here – particularly for
young men. These are people who have never done any art before, but they’ve
also never been encouraged to open up about how they feel. It’s a brand new
experience for them and it’s a wonderful thing to see.
“I run a
project where I got them to draw pictures of what they wanted their future to
look like. I’ve done other things where I’ve got them to walk across paint on
the floor with their shoes and socks off. At first they didn’t know how to open
up, but after a while they were singing and dancing, really enjoying the
creative process.
“If they didn’t
have this they’d go home carrying their emotions with them, but we’re allowing
them to do something creative and release them.”
Sam Ingleson, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at the University
of Salford, said: “Tracy has done something truly brave and extraordinary that
demonstrates the power that engaging in the creative arts can have on a
people’s lives, and we’re all incredibly proud of what she’s accomplished.”
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