Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Asylum seekers from Africa in Israel were taught six courses by volunteer lecturers from various local and academic institutions. They were accompanied by real fear of the future: the knowledge that they must choose between prolonged imprisonment without a release date and a voluntary return to Africa The theoretical framework on which the activity is derived from a multidisciplinary vision that includes forgiveness as a therapeutic tool, socially-engaged art in connection with theories of art as a space of resilience and re-framing, and social theories in which art is a shared space that generates knowledge about the asylum seekers’ experiences. This study examines the above theories through the analysis of artistic activity in project shared by the asylum seekers and the volunteers who accompanied them. The research findings show that through the language of art, they succeeded in processing painful experiences, memories, difficulties, suffering, and longing. The painting gave participants ways to deal with the current situation and to express protest, hope, and even attempts at forgiveness. The experience also provided the participants with a trigger for discourse within the group itself and with the facilitators and volunteers, as representatives of the dominant society, and thus to communicate in it the experts, who ultimately tell their story. The combination of all the paintings into one joint work and the discovery of the FREE YOUR MIND slogan illustrates the spirit and strength of the project and a sense of partnership within the group and with the volunteers.