Creative Arts Therapy, Community & Social Action: A Virtual Juried Exhibition

Black Lives Matter Improv is inspired by a call to action from a friend who wanted to create instructions to her young son on how to get home in June 2020 after watching the killing of George Floyd. Movers were instructed to: -record 30 seconds of movement (choreographed or improv) -any genre of dance -record in a well lit space, preferably outside -No filters, or altering the video -let the movement move you. This specific segment is an extraction from a nine minute improvisation. Additional excerpts are included in the dance film, Letter To A Son, by Bianca Bonner. Erin Bryce Holmes, MS, LCAT, BC-DMT, was an apprentice with Urban Bush Women, principal dancer with Kariamu & Company: Traditions, African American Dance Ensemble, Tania Isaac Dance, Dance Theatre X, Denovo, Ephrat Asherie Dance and with Bill T. Jones developing FELA! She is a dance/movement therapist, Umfundalai instructor, and directs Bryce Entertainment, LLC.

As the daughter of immigrants, themes of community and social action, especially as an Art Therapist, have always been complex to unpack. It has taken time to learn how to even acknowledge, let alone understand, how intergenerational trauma is inherited through epigenetics. Learning how to recognize the trauma caused by my community has opened my eyes to the importance of individual resistance. My submission for this exhibition centers around two forms of resistance: personal and public. The first, (featured here), is a simple and personal notebook that has carried me through quarantine. This notebook has been my space to help me process the struggles of this past year while I develop a voice to fight for myself and communities experiencing similar challenges. The second submission, (featured in gallery above) is an image from a Protest Art event I co-led with The All Street Journal in October of 2020. --Shereen Bar-or MPS, LCAT, ATR-BC is founder of Art Therapy Collective, a private practice based in Brooklyn, New York and serves as Social Action Chair on the Board of the New York Art Therapy Association. Shereen designs opportunities to engage in creative social justice endeavors and opportunities to promote the importance of expression, healing, and community engagement. Shereen is an active activist, an avid gardener, and emphasizes the importance of self-care and social action within her personal and professional life.