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Volume 11, Issue 3
  • ISSN: 2040-2457
  • E-ISSN: 2040-2465

Abstract

This article presents an art-based research study that explored whether art and artmaking could be considered mediators for intimacy within personal expression. The primary participant of the study was the artist-researcher-therapist, and the imagery created served as co-participants who played the role of residing in the self. Certain qualities of intimacy were identified within art and artmaking: an urge to move closer, embracing small details, layering, safety, transformation, borders and empty spaces, restrictions by limiting media and tension. Art as a mediator was found to provide an intermediate space and a transcendental realm and to serve as a vehicle of expression that could bridge between the physical and the imagined, integrate inner qualities, support differentiation, encourage witnessing and reconcile ambiguity and conflict.

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2020-11-01
2026-04-12

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/content/journals/10.1386/jaah_00041_7
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Art as a mediator for intimacy: Reflections of an art-based research study
Journal of Applied Arts & Health 11, 299 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1386/jaah_00041_7
/content/journals/10.1386/jaah_00041_7
/content/journals/10.1386/jaah_00041_7
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): art as mediator; art-based familytherapy; art-based research; artist-researcher- therapist; expressive therapies; intimacy; intimate experience

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