Kintsukuroi - In Suspense

Kintsukuroi is the Japanese art of highlighting a breakage of a piece of ceramics. This can be used as a metaphor for how we can break and reform as people. The breakage is an acceptance of change and fate as aspects of human life. Not only is there no attempt to hide the breakage, but also the repair is literally illuminated. This comes with the understanding that the piece is therefore more beautiful for having been broken. 

The fragments of this piece were part of a set of porcelain orbs that culminated in a final MA Art Therapy degree show. The pieces (when whole) were created in response to how experiences on placement start to shape your professional identity when shadowing fellow clinicians. Whilst moving the set of orbs, some time after the initial exhibition, two of them were dropped and subsequently smashed. With the help of a friend and her studio of dreams, I recreated the piece into what you see today. When photographing the piece the shadows that it created seemed as important, if not more so, than the piece itself. In clinical practice Jung would often refer to his shadow work, he also commented that we never see others. Instead we see only aspects of ourselves that fall over them - shadows, projections, and our associations; in the same way that painters would use the camera obscura, it’s not the exact image that is being created, but everything reversed and upside down

What happens when we lose our shadow side to someone or something else? In the fairytale Peter Pan, he chases his shadow into Wendy’s room. His shadow, when brought near to him, he hoped, would join like drops of water, and when they did not he was outraged. He then tried to stick it on with soap from the bathroom, but this failed. A shudder passed through Peter, and he sat on the floor and cried.  The piece can also be thought of as a metaphorical representation of being born whole. As we grow up however we begin to separate certain aspects into good and evil, we begin that shadow-making process and divide our lives. Just as Peter Pan started whole, but then ended up losing his shadow and also his need or want to grow up. 

This piece is a reminder to me that all we can realistically offer our clients is to hold and frame and space of fragmentation and repair. Within this suspended space we can also provide the tool kit and illumination. However, the client has to choose which to discard and which to keep and reform. We also need to be mindful of what clients discard. The shadow side, which lurks behind them, might catch the remains, which could also sneak past our own blind spots as therapists.  

Bethan Baëz – Devine is an Art Psychotherapist with a range of clinical experience both in the UK and abroad. Within the UK, I have worked therapeutically in a variety of schools and offered training to staff. I currently hold the position of Art Psychotherapist with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Staffordshire. More recently, I established an Art Therapy programme within a YMCA and held the position of external Clinical Supervisor. With another Art Psychotherapist, I support the co-ordination of the BAAT Region 9 group and I also facilitate creative non- residential retreats for therapists under the umbrella of The Potting Shed.