School of Creative
Industries
Ishizawa Xinyi
Ishi is a Singapore-based multidisciplinary artist with a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art practice (Hons). Her art practice focuses on material explorations and experimentations and often involves playful elements. Her experience as an art educator working with children, youths, and adults for five years inspired her to pursue an MA Art Therapy at LASALLE College of the Arts. During her time in the programme, Ishi had the privilege and opportunity to facilitate individual and group art therapy sessions with children and youths from disadvantaged and disruptive households in a social service agency as well as a divorce specialist centre. Ishi hopes to continue working and providing her clients with the necessary support and fostering creative means to express themselves.
Work
Walking in a straight line, one cannot get very far
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
2022
Walking in a straight line, one cannot get very far is a juxtaposition of mixed media artworks that includes elements of playfulness alongside the exploration of materials and colours. The artworks draw from personal narratives and are an ongoing self-inquiry, morphed into respective sanctums of symbolic collages and illustrative drawings. These individual vessels come alive in two- and three-dimensional compositions, embodying themes of vulnerability, confusion and confrontation, mirroring and honouring the artist’s state of being.
Thesis abstract
A qualitative inquiry on the effectiveness of online art therapy as an intervention with a child engaged with family services in Singapore during a global pandemic
The conditions and limitations of COVID-19 have drastically pushed many mental health service providers to pivot their assistance into the digital realm, including the field of art therapy. Psychotherapy interventions increasingly utilise digital media and various online platforms to engage and provide continued support despite COVID-19 regulations. Art therapy has many benefits when working with a range of populations. This qualitative practitioner-based single-case study uses a psychodynamic lens, focusing on online art therapy sessions with a 10-year-old girl engaged with family services in Singapore, who is experiencing household disruptions during an ongoing global pandemic. Based on the data collected and analysed, the findings reveal how material interaction with traditional art material and new media through a mix of directed and non-directive interventions empowered this individual to express herself and rebuild her identity. This thesis looks at the effectiveness of individual online art therapy as an intervention, as well as the ways that directive and non-directive approaches with traditional art material and new media might aid the therapeutic process of individual online art therapy. The significance of this thesis contributes to the lively discussion on the potential of digital media in online art therapy and responds to the research gap in limited resources on online art therapy, children and parental separation in Singapore.