Mdes Thesis Outcome / Workshop Design
Healing Rites
Participant-centered healing strategies based on feminism, art and shared experiences through utilizing the methods of co-design and trauma-informed principles
Healing Rites
Reclaiming and refraining the domestic through creative and performance-based art rituals
To better understand why sexual assault is prevalent, I studied the rape kit and subsequently, the rape culture that exists in our societies in different contexts and situations. I further sought out the methods we use to heal women who have been victims of the spectrum of abuse that rape culture enables, gender-based violence being one of the most extreme and familiar forms. A typical design process was followed, what emerged was enlightening: healing from trauma is different for everyone, but we have power over deciding how we make our journeys. Another insight was that while therapy is a highly useful tool; it is not always accessible for everyone-- depending on location, beliefs, and economic statuses.
But there are ways and smaller steps based on creative actions and storytelling that have shown to affect our well-being positively.
I decided to create and design something that would address rape culture-- where geography, language, and societal roles were analyzed and actively engaged with to subvert the nature of these attributes. For example, domestic space has always been deemed secondary and has been relegated to women's duties. It is a space that has often been traumatic as much as nourishing. Healing Rites is about looking at our surroundings in a mindful manner, pondering over it, reminding us of commonality in experience between women, and tie that in with a creative process of inner and outer transformation.
Through the design process, I came upon Healing Rites- I knew that to make it accessible, democratic, and holistic, it would have to be nothing high-tech. Instead, it would remind the women that we can practice agency through frugal and simple creativity, storytelling, and sharing. It also ensured that women from all over the world could partake in these. The rites were supposed to be done in the domestic space via objects and "ingredients" that were most readily available to everyone, especially during covid. Healing rites essentially became a guided manifesto for taking charge of our healing through creative rituals.
I wanted to use the power of talismans, totems, and placebos to work in a way that enabled women to confront their trauma through acts that were creatively engaging as well as rooted in a commentary that was trauma-informed and culturally relevant. My research, along with my advisors, helped me create the rites to be effective and ethical.
To that end, as I had studied the power of placebos, writing, color, form, motifs in literature-- especially those that have shown to affect us emotionally and mentally, and manipulate those to our advantage to create physical artifacts of well-being and healing.
But there are ways and smaller steps based on creative actions and storytelling that have shown to affect our well-being positively.
I decided to create and design something that would address rape culture-- where geography, language, and societal roles were analyzed and actively engaged with to subvert the nature of these attributes. For example, domestic space has always been deemed secondary and has been relegated to women's duties. It is a space that has often been traumatic as much as nourishing. Healing Rites is about looking at our surroundings in a mindful manner, pondering over it, reminding us of commonality in experience between women, and tie that in with a creative process of inner and outer transformation.
Through the design process, I came upon Healing Rites- I knew that to make it accessible, democratic, and holistic, it would have to be nothing high-tech. Instead, it would remind the women that we can practice agency through frugal and simple creativity, storytelling, and sharing. It also ensured that women from all over the world could partake in these. The rites were supposed to be done in the domestic space via objects and "ingredients" that were most readily available to everyone, especially during covid. Healing rites essentially became a guided manifesto for taking charge of our healing through creative rituals.
I wanted to use the power of talismans, totems, and placebos to work in a way that enabled women to confront their trauma through acts that were creatively engaging as well as rooted in a commentary that was trauma-informed and culturally relevant. My research, along with my advisors, helped me create the rites to be effective and ethical.
To that end, as I had studied the power of placebos, writing, color, form, motifs in literature-- especially those that have shown to affect us emotionally and mentally, and manipulate those to our advantage to create physical artifacts of well-being and healing.
1.
Transform a negative to a positive
2.
Physicalize our inner worlds
3.
Subvert the narrative around the domestic sphere by reclaiming the domestic space through creative strategies
4.
Interact with ingredients and processes in our homes that are tied to feminist traditions and women's history
It struck me that there was power in women with shared experiences coming together in a space and undertaking a collective agenda focused on healing. This realization led to a big revelation-- Participatory Design could be applied as a methodology to create rituals and rites for healing purposes. Another important part that became apparent was the strength of communal healing and shared experiences.
Through a commonality, women could connect on a fixed agenda adapted to their needs of expression, action, and advocacy, with the overarching goal of healing.
For the first Healing Rites, around 30 women responded from all over the world.
Through a commonality, women could connect on a fixed agenda adapted to their needs of expression, action, and advocacy, with the overarching goal of healing.
For the first Healing Rites, around 30 women responded from all over the world.
For the first set of rites, based on the research on trauma, specifically within the context of a woman's life, it became evidently important that the entryway into collective and individual healing would come from addressing the common themes that arose around the topic of trauma, womanhood, and its symptomatology.
FEAR, SHAME, AND GRIEF are major emotional elements of the amalgamation of feelings and emotions that one feels post-trauma. It was only right that we looked at each of them in deeper regard, and dissect it within the current context. However, that was not it. It was about acknowledging the spectrum of "good" and "bad", and considering the positive antithesis that we were striving for on this spectrum.
Hence,
Courage being the positive antithesis of Fear.
Love being the positive antithesis of Shame.
Joy being the positive antithesis of Grief.
FEAR, SHAME, AND GRIEF are major emotional elements of the amalgamation of feelings and emotions that one feels post-trauma. It was only right that we looked at each of them in deeper regard, and dissect it within the current context. However, that was not it. It was about acknowledging the spectrum of "good" and "bad", and considering the positive antithesis that we were striving for on this spectrum.
Hence,
Courage being the positive antithesis of Fear.
Love being the positive antithesis of Shame.
Joy being the positive antithesis of Grief.
Structure of the first set of rites
These some of the outcomes from the first rites. Women from all over the world took part in these rites. The first one is done through utilizing meditative and introspective qualities of origami, free association writing, and visual theory. The Rites were sent out by me, and each of those had visual and written instructions on how to perform every step. As shown, the rites were designed to reflect the autonomy and agency of the woman taking healing in her own hands; which is a contrasting feeling to that experienced when a survivor has to go through the rape kit examination.
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