artherapyHQ GALLERY
WORK TITLE: dance therapy
subtitle: healing YOURSELF through the dance
aRTIST: alexandra krantz
mEDIUm: photography
WORK STATEMENT
When I started using photography, writing, and visual art as art therapy, I was only thirteen and I thought that art therapy was only about drawing or painting. But later I realized that it actually involves many more different fields, whose common purpose is to lead to a deep understanding of healing, starting from looking at a situation or a feeling through the use of various media.
What particularly attracts me is the relationship between dance and psychotherapy. In the book about dance therapy, The Art and the Science of Dance/Movement Therapy: Life is Dance, the dancer is described as an empathetic (S. Chaiklin & H. Wengrover, 2009). To care about other individuals and their emotions and to guide them towards healing, they must feel and deeply understand what they feel.
The photographer uses the dance and the photography to study the movement, and allows her to understand the dancer’s emotions.
As dance searches for the correlation between movement and emotion, so the photography does, representing subjects in movement. Through both dance and photography, the viewer experiences emotions and identifies herself in what she sees.
When Isabelle, the subject of my work, was nine years old, dance came into her life and now she is able to create joy and euphoria and he has a deeper sense of connection between herself and the environment. Like me, she experienced a very difficult childhood, due to which she developed feelings of anxiety and fear. That’s why as subject for my project I thought about Isabelle, a contemporary dancer from New Zealand, who has a peculiar beauty and characteristics.
The message of my project to the viewers is that they are not alone and that they can try to find their own talent. I want to give people hope that they can heal themselves by being more self-confident, like When we discussed the project, Isabelle explained to me that her message is that dance means freedom, which is the essence of our lives, fundamental for our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.
We created a mood board together and we decided which dance to perform, the location, the lights, the time of the day and the backgrounds. We chose an outdoor area for the shoot, near The Eye Institute.
Therefore, we could represent the freedom of the dance and the relationship between dancer and the environment. We also decided which specific movements and body expressions to use, as well as which atmosphere to create by the use of lights.
We also followed improvisation and imagination, allowing the motions to come out more spontaneously through authentic expressions of face and movements, and emphasizing instinctive movements in a simple way, in a pleasant space, in comfortable clothes, and accompanied by music.
The most important message we want to give through this photo series is that
Everything Is Possible.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a photographer, filmmaker, and writer.
When I was thirteen, I started to use photography, writing, and other forms of visual art as a means of self-expression, to better understand my reality, and to express my interpretation of the world around me. I am a “visual thinker”, so for me it’s easier to express myself with images.
Photography and Videography are my true deep passions, which changed me. These art forms have healed my soul and my mind. Expressing myself with film has made me a stronger person and a fighter. without depriving me of my sensitive side.
That’s why I decided to study photography and the visual arts.
I use photography as a means to document the world around me. Images are a huge part of today's world and they have great potential to document reality and express the imaginary universe. They can stimulate thoughts and challenge opinions. We take pictures as a return ticket to memories. In a world where we are becoming everyday more disconnected from each other and ourselves, I strongly believe that arts may help to reconnect ourselves to our feelings and the spiritual part inside our soul. No other language is so powerful.
I make pictures which bring the focus on what other people overlook. My goal is to make photographs that draw viewers into the “now”. Focusing on details keeps the viewer in the present; it prevents him from worrying about the future or regretting the past. I search for the unknown and I look for the light within the shadows, the stories that are not at first obvious, the uncommon in the common.
Currently, the main topics for my photography and documentaries are focused on disability, social issues and cultural identities. I use visual storytelling to introduce social issues or people with chronic diseases or from different cultures, showing in 360 degrees what it means living with a specific social issue or with an illness or in a specific cultural environment; and expressing the psychological and spiritual side of the subjects.
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