Paints

"Childhood treasures – little girl with red shoes, a golden calf, a blackbird that has turned into a paradise bird. A bright sun in my stomach – yellow and warm. Unruly, wild hair, – it's growing again!"

"Art Therapy gives me a different perspective of myself. My doubts and worries become so much less important. New possibilities show themselves to me.

I learn to accept myself as I am, to live in the moment, not in the past or in the future. To blossom within and to use this new found energy in a loving way in the outer world"

"Art Therapy enables me to access images that no amount of talking can bring me to. It helps me gain a far greater and deeper understanding of myself and is a way of expressing cut off and painful feelings that until now have had no voice. It illuminates some of the dark shadows of my mind and soul and helps me find within them powerful symbols of nurturance and protection. It gives voice to those parts of me that are beyond the reach of words. Black and red figure with daggers: This is about feeling very deeply hurt: the red means pain but also aliveness, black is the opposite – numbness and deadness. This could also be the rage about being so deeply hurt."

All text and pictures have been reproduced with the consent of the participants