Artistic Force
Re: “Psychology student opens her heart, and her veins”
Arts » oct 26, 2011
I very much enjoyed reading Bianca Dreyer’s interview with York artist and psychology graduate student, Tamara McKay Thalmann. In addition to the candour with which Thalmann spoke of her art as one that “depends upon [my] current emotional state” in the execution of a particular picture, she also acknowledges the freedom given to the viewer to make a “personal interpretation” of her art depending upon the viewer’s emotional state.
As Thalmann says, “every picture is in a constant process of change.” Emotion then, is integral to the creation of art and its interpretation. Emotional variability can infuse artistic creation and its interpretation with a dynamic that gives art its power.
Thalmann also addressed the role of distress in one’s current life and how an artist can transform that experience into some creative expression. Thus, the apt title of her show, Defense Mechanisms. In drawing on classical Freudian psychoanalytic theory, we note that we have an array of psychological defenses at our disposal for adaptive use, as we attempt to negotiate (adapt to) the stresses and strains of everyday life.
The defense of sublimation is noteworthy in the context of Thalmann’s interview, she admits her art “takes a painful experience or emotion and experiments with it to transform it to something else.” And it is this transforming of something painful into something beautiful that represents one way of understanding the operation of the defense of sublimation, and quite possibly the artistic force and ultimate creations of Thalmann.
In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud said: “The enjoyment of beauty has a peculiar, mildly intoxicating quality of feeling.” And so, an additional benefit of sublimation is to remove us from our everyday stresses and concerns and “intoxicate” us at least for the moment, with feelings of pleasure.
Creating art and experiencing the fruits of an artist’s efforts provides pleasure to both the artist as creator and the viewer as a consumer of beauty.
After I read the Dreyer-Thalmann interview in Excalibur, I went to see the exhibition Defense Mechanisms, and was able to derive a greater appreciation of it in the context of the aforementioned article/interview.
—Frank Marchese,
PhD Course Director
Not just passive sufferers
Re: “Mental illness: battling the stigma”
Opinions » oct 19, 2011
We agree that people diagnosed with “mental illness” experience isolation, discrimination, and are unfairly and wrongly associated with violence. In part due to media representations, we would nevertheless remind the writer and Excalibur readers that people who have experienced the mental health system are organizing and taking responsibility for our lives even in the context of intense oppression, often from institutions such as the university. This is part of a long history of resistance to discrimination.
We are not merely patients but active members of our communities, including the student community at York. While some of us have found conventional treatment useful, many of us draw on alternative approaches such as peer support and activism to survive in this world. Please remember we are not just passive sufferers leading tragic lives.
—The Mad Students Society
