Witness to War: Enlisting The Creative Process in Working Through Trauma

Abstract

A brutal war in Ukraine brings the author back to the beginning of her life as a hidden child during the Second World War in Ukrainian territory under Soviet and Nazi occupation. She examines the long-term effects of war trauma on her life and her choices, and analyzes how the experience shaped her identity, her character, and her professional aspirations as a psychoanalyst and artist. With words and brush strokes she addresses a series of current crises that can be retraumatizing for survivors, namely, an assault on American democracy, a perilous pandemic, and vicious war crimes in Ukraine. These catastrophes are depicted in four oil paintings which capture the terror of war through juxtaposition of past and present images. Artistic self-expression allows for the working through of traumatic experience; In that respect, art functions as a type of reenactment which offers opportunities for mourning and repair.