Mullewa woman process trauma through art therapy

After months of hard work, a group of women presented a body of art that helped them lessen the weight of their trauma at Inspirations Café and Motel in Mullewa. The art show, due to run months ago, was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but was finally able to run earlier this month. “These are strong resilient woman who have dealt with so much grief,” WA Centre of Rural Health community development officer Lisa Lockyer said as she addressed the large crowd at Barndi Nyarlu. The work was impactful and striking, rawly expressing themes of loss, grief, domestic violence, sexual assault, drug and alcohol addiction, and the impact of family incarcerations. Lifting the work further were the presence of motifs from Aboriginal culture and the local landscape. But according to Ms Lockyer, the work was never about aesthetics — it was about processing trauma. The art was created in a program and funded by a Healthway grant and facilitated by Ms Lockyer and art therapist Sonya Bandy. It also included a family wellbeing training session run by the Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia. “I am glad Lisa came along. She helped me,” artist Susan Merry, whose celebrated body of artwork expands much further than the exhibition, said. The show’s title, Barndi Nyarlu, is the Wajarri phrase for “good woman”. Merry said the name represented hurdles she had overcome on her journey living with trauma. “We have come a long way,” she said. For artists Debra Maher and Kathryn Park, it was about learning the domestic violence they had experienced was not their fault. “It took me a long time to learn that,” Maher said. All three women agreed the program had helped heal some of the personal and intergenerational trauma they carried, and they appreciated the art therapy format as it allowed them to incorporate culture. Art therapist Sonya Brandy said it was not the end of their journey, although the show marked progress. “(their) vulnerability in this process is (their) real strength...there is no cookie cutter (way to heal from) trauma,” she said. She said the exhibition was “bitter sweet”, regretting the program had to end. “I am extremely proud...they really stole my heat,” she said.