Nathanael Koh

This thesis adopts a qualitative, practitioner-based approach and explores how technology and concepts of gaming can be used within the space of art therapy, in the backdrop of the digitalised modern world.

The thesis explores the question of the therapeutic implications of art therapy in addressing the evolving needs of Singapore’s secondary school students.

Findings compiled from a single vignette were centred around art therapy with a secondary school student utilising personal devices, video games and play as a creative process within the scope of art therapy. The sessions took place over a year-long clinical placement in a secondary school setting.

The outcomes suggest that the integration of personal devices, video games and play can enrich the art therapy experience for the younger generation. Thus, providing a comprehensive and more diverse experience that encourages emotional well-being and growth through a creative digital medium.

Using pen and ink, Nathanael explores ideas of nostalgia and memory, as well as permanence and impermanence.

His subject matter draws from photographs taken by himself or loved ones, from memory and from fleeting moments encountered in everyday life. The permanence of ink, the impermanence of digital photography and the fluidity of memory form an in-between space that his drawings seek to connect.

Here, ink becomes a physical manifestation of memories and images that otherwise exist in a non-physical realm.