School of Creative
Industries
Cherry Lee Mu Zhen
Cherry graduated from the National Institute of Education with a Bachelor of Arts in Education (Hons) and has an Advanced Diploma in Primary Art Education. She has worked several years in local secondary schools and enjoys witnessing the development of her art students through her guidance from beginning to graduation.
Through a surprise opportunity to volunteer within a community mental health setting, she found that art brought solace, comfort and joy to the community. This awakened her interest in taking her skillset beyond the teaching of art methodology as making art could offer so much more beyond the classroom setting.
Through the clinical placements provided by the MA Art Therapy programme, Cherry has had the privilege of working with the muscle dystrophy community and adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Journeying alongside and engaging with these two communities have given her a wealth of insight and personal fulfilment.
Work
Cocoon
Mixed media on canvas
40 cm in diameter
2023
Safe spaces are something the artist constantly yearns, seeks and takes refuge in. Emerging as a representation of both physical and metaphorical spaces, this artwork pays homage to all past, present and future safe spaces the artist has and will create for security and protection.
Cocoon uses a circular canvas to symbolise unity and protection. Strings of yarn are carefully circled around the canvas ritualistically and as a boundary – watchful, as the artist reveals her inner self, but also vibrant, fleeting and cautious against the outer world. Lines that intersect are draped over her inner self, providing partial concealment and safety. Using a variety of yarn and acrylic paint in tones of grey to illustrate the ephemeral boundaries constructed at various crossroads, the artist cocoons herself against potential harm.
Thesis abstract
Therapeutic experience of silence in art therapy
As a non-pharmacological therapeutic intervention, the use of art therapy for persons with ASD has been gaining traction worldwide. Silence is a phenomenon that commonly occurs during art therapy sessions in individuals with ASD due to non-verbal inclinations. While silence has traditionally been viewed as an inhibitor of transference, its skilful utilization during therapy can result in positive outcomes, such as the improvement of the therapeutic alliance. With this in mind, the thesis examined the contributing role of silence in the therapeutic alliance between male children and adolescents with ASD in Singapore using an art-based qualitative research approach. Multiple case vignettes of three participants with ASD were used to explore the topic. This thesis found that silence has four functions when it comes to contributing to a therapeutic alliance with this population. These include facilitating nonverbal communication, assisting with the reflection of therapeutic content, encouraging the creation of a safe therapeutic environment, and enabling an intersubjective understanding. Overall, these identified functions of silence are beneficial for the therapeutic alliance because they can lead to increased emotion processing, as well as other positive developmental and therapeutic outcomes.