Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

What can be learned from artists about mourning? This paper describes how artists engage innovation and inspire vicarious resilience in their work related to mourning, trauma, conflict, and loss. I am a professional artist who decided to pursue a Master’s degree in conflict dispute resolution at the University of Oregon Law School. By exploring how artists manage grief, conflict specialists may become more sensitized to the complexities of loss while being exposed to creative approaches for managing grief in conflict situations. Through understanding mimesis, and vicarious resilience, artists symbolic voices only become more apparent in grief and mourning contexts. Grief has the ability to be intersectional while arising compassion and empathy surrounding complex agendas related to conflicts. Artists alone cannot stop war but artists as cultural mediators can affect the memory of oppression, injustice and war while effecting contemporary dialogue. Part I provides an overview of key concepts - creativity and open/closed thinking, grief & mourning and vicarious resilience. In Part II, the needs of mourning is discussed while exploring the role of artists, and artwork in dealing with traumatic events within specific time periods and art movements. Part III offers some thoughts as to how mediators might incorporate these art practices into their work.