teaching art as if the world mattered || listen to my picture: art as a survival tool for immigrant...

National Art Education Association

Listen to My Picture: Art as a Survival Tool for Immigrant and Refugee StudentsAuthor(s): Lisa Lefler BrunickSource: Art Education, Vol. 52, No. 4, Teaching Art as if the World Mattered (Jul., 1999), pp.12-17Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193768 .

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LISTEN TO MY PICTURE:

ArtAsa

Survival Tool o many children, so many colors, so many circumstances! Thirty-six children with limited English proficiency (in some cases with no knowledge of English) arrived at the elementary school, where I am the art teacher, this past fall. Joining an already diverse population of 500 students, these 36 new children from far-away countries have contributed their cultures, pictures, tears, and trea-

sures to our school community. As an art educator in an elementary school building where students have a multitude of special needs, including the inability to speak the English language, I have discovered that a therapeutic approach to teaching art more effectively meets the unique needs of my students.

The immigrant and refugee students must contend with unfamiliar tools and routines in the classroom, not to mention long days of frustration while listening to foreign speaking strangers. Responses I have witnessed from these students who are new to America range from extreme acting-out behavior, to exhaust- ed, puzzled stares, and silent tears. Art therapy techniques such as non-directed drawing opportunities, tolerance of shocking images, and respectful listening are especially beneficial in helping to meet the special needs of these children. The intent of this writing is to raise the awareness of art educators regarding the unique circumstances and special needs of immigrant and refugee students.

Since 1993, approximately 16 million refugees have been displaced from their homes worldwide (McCloskey & Southwick, 1996). Hundreds of thousands have arrived in America as children-children who awake in unfamiliar surroundings after long days and nights of international travel. They find them- selves shuttled off to a strange school building with new people, unfamiliar customs, and a foreign language. The fighting, fear, and political strife is over for them now. But also gone are their homes, friends, and life as they once knew it. The children wonder, 'Will I really be OK here in America?"

Many schools and communities across America have responded with civic duty and hospitality in reaching out to the immigrant population. There are programs designed to encourage and celebrate cultural diversity. But, what is being done to deal with the psychological scars these people live with, who have survived brutal circumstances before arriving in this country? As the interpreter for one of our students from Sudan poignantly stated, 'You cannot know how we live with ourselves, with the pictures we carry in our heads of the war."

ART EDUCATION / JULY 1999



BY LISA LEFLER BRUNICK

For Immigrant and Ref unee Students

Figure 1: 1st grade student drawing. Russian immigrant, 6 months in U.S. Non-directed "free-drawing." Note details, dots, repeated patterns.

JULY 1999 / ART EDUCATION



SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS

More difficult to heal than the dis- eases, infections and malnutrition they may bring with them from impover- ished home lands, are the psychological and social wounds resulting from the trauma of war and displacement. Atrocities witnessed by these children and their families in war camps and on the seas before their arrival in America have caused psychological scars including regression, withdrawal, aggression, depression, anxiety, nightmares, defi- ance, hyperactivity, antisocial behavior, acting out, vulnerability, and paranoia (McCloskey & Southwick, 1996).

Ascher (1984) studied the specific age groups of children as they were affected by the immigration process. She learned that young people between 9 and 15 years of age will have com- pounded identity problems as they also deal with the normal period of adoles- cence. They may feel guilty about family members and friends who were left behind (Ascher, 1984). In addition, if a parent or relative is an illegal immigrant, the child may fear authority fig- ures (e.g., teachers and counselors), hindering potentially close, helpful rela- tionships (Harris, 1993).

Children between the ages of 3 and 10 years will arrive in America with memories of what they have survived (Ascher, 1984). They will learn English and be able to communicate their fears with words. One example of this is the following creative writing assignment by one of my fourth grade Yugoslavian refugee students (written in the learning style after a poem by Eloise Greenfield):

I Remember* I remember small river beside

my gramma house my little birds my goldfishes my funny dog my first day in school I remember bad war and dead people lots of guns lots of sea lots of friends I remember a lot but I wish I rememb

I forgot

Maja is surviving. She is n friends thanks to her charmil ality and friendly, good looks learning the English languag ing with the American schoo thanks to her LEP (Limited I Proficiency) teacher. And yel rarely utters a sentence in Er Serbo-Croatian without a firs ping gulp of air, a tell-tale sigi horror she is holding inside ( to professional consultation.)

Another example of a refu dent using an art form to dea frightening memories of esc< is 10 year old Zebiba. She ha shared the events of her fami efforts to flee Africa many tin our school. Recently, she wat offer her story at a storytellin on a local college campus. Ea Zebiba is allowed to share th her past, her burden lessens.

Ascher (1984) goes on how children, at the age ofju ing language (12 months to 3 when their lives were sudder rupted by war, will likely suff

*Bold type words were originally written by the poet, Eloise Greenfield (Scott, Foresman & Company, 1995, pp. 118- 119).

guage-learning problems and related neurotic behavior as a result of the trauma which disrupted the developmental learning process. Lastly, although they appear to adjust to immigration most easily, Ascher(1984) is concerned that infants 6 months to 2 years will suffer the most long-term damage, because of difficulty in dealing with nightmares stemming from preverbal memories.

IDENTITY CRISIS When the children and their families

ered what first arrive in America, they step imme- diately into new identities. Adults fre-

-by Maja quently suffer the loss of professional status, and often the recent death of a

naking spouse may result in single parenting ng person- duties. The children seem to learn the ;. She is new language fairly easily. Adults, how- re and deal- ever, are forced to rely on the children 1 system, to translate anything from day to day .nglish necessities, to important family busi- t, Maja ness, to personal medical needs. These iglish or parents often feel a loss of respect and t hiccup- authority when they must depend on n of the their children this way, and the chil- (according dren may resent the situation as well.

Many family members also endure [gee stu- the loss of their own name, as immigra- 1 with the tion officials attempt to translate unfa- aping war, miliar sounds and symbols into the Ls verbally English language. I was honored to ily's heroic assist a parent of one of my Russian stu- aes within dents when she wanted to choose an s invited to English form of her own Russian name. ig festival As she rolled the name 'Yevgeniya" ich time over and over off her tongue, a col- e pain of league and I listened carefully and

offered possible English versions. She to describe finally settled on the name "Janie" and st acquir- as I printed it on paper for the first time, 3 years old) she picked it up and softly said, "I am ily inter- Janie." Immigrant and refugee family er lan- members consider, '"Who was I?" and

'Who am I?" as they struggle with,

I




'Who am I to become?" In spite of many obstacles, immi-

grant and refugee families continually strive to survive. Studies on refugee children have discovered that if the nuclear family managed to escape per- secution and stay intact, the family was less likely to suffer later symptoms and to subsequently recover from the impact of war (McCloskey & Southwick, 1996). If however, the mother suffered from depression as a result of war induced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the children were considered more at risk. If one or more of the parents was killed in the war, the children were discovered to be profoundly at risk (McCloskey & Southwick, 1996).

Another factor playing into the child's well-being is how well the parent or caretaker responds to stressful or

traumatic situations (el Habir & Marriage, 1994). In addition, a study by Zivcic (1993) found a low correlation between the children's self-report on the Child Depression Inventory and their parents' and teachers' report on the Mood Scale. Apparently the adults were not aware of the depressed state of their children.

THE SCHOOL'S ROLE Responsible schools are designing

curriculum to meet the educational needs of immigrant and refugee students. What, though, is being done to care for the students' fragile emotional and psychological needs? Intrusive and disturbing memories of war can prohib- it normal, healthy development and impede learning. In order for the children to gain control over these emo- tions and obtain relief, it is important for them to give expression to their traumatic memories and resulting feelings. Considering the existing lan-

Figure 2: 5th grade student drawing. Sudanese

refugee, 5 months in U.S. Non-directed "free draw-

ing" Note: flying snake.

guage barrier and the natural utilization of their own cultural heritage, expression through art and music seems a practical intervention for immigrant and refugee children who are at risk.

The school is a natural setting for children to receive intervention, and art is an effective way for Non-English speaking children to record their expe- riences and grapple with their con- cerns. Art class can be a non-threatening environment, empow- ering children with media choices they are free to make and setting secure boundaries for them "within the scope of creativity" (Virshup, 1993, p. 22).

When a child presents a drawing that is laden with evidence of his or her own personal suffering, how does a teacher react? Do we trust what our eyes and instinct are telling us? How do we decipher between honest, actual experience and too much influence from television? The first response should be to ask the child, "What is your picture about?" If verbal language is a barrier, it is important to read the student's school file, or request an interpreter. It is also beneficial to know the child's background and to be atten- tive to news coverage concerning political conflict in other countries. Without knowledge of each child's situation, it can be difficult to understand the significance of the images that they share with us.




CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ARTWORK

A book by Brauner describes the work of two doctors who, over the past fifty years, have studied two areas involving art and children: the development of childhood drawing and drawing as a way to help children who are traumatized by war (Lambert, 1994). These two doctors have "adopted drawing as a crucial intervention tool" (Lambert, 1994, p. 14). They have described several commonalities in the artwork of children affected by war.

An important point to consider is that the more elaborate the drawings, the more likely there is within the child a repression of sensitivity (Lambert, 1994). Other commonalities in drawings by children affected by war include very factual recordings of war events, and not the sensationalized, fantastic version that is pictured by those who have never experienced it. The few imaginary drawings that occur are those that depict the enemy being defeated. Children of war tend to draw airplanes as symbols of power, and include burning houses, projectiles, tra- jectories and cadavers (Lambert, 1994).

Tanay (1994) describes the following as some of the verbal and visual symbols used by children to protect their consciousness from trauma: "worms, snakes, eyes, butterflies, spi- ders, ghosts, monsters, stones, hearts, fiery heads... holes and birds" (p. 238). A responsible art teacher will take note of these drawn symbols, which may offer insight about the background of the foreign student (who often arrives with little or no records of his or her past). Many of these drawings initially appear nondescript and insignificant-

and so to really "hear" what a picture is saying, it is most important for the teacher to learn as much about his or her students as possible. The imagery they trust us with should not be taken lightly. Together with specific knowledge, it can provide clues and critical information about the child's well- being.

Children have much to say, and cer- tainly children who have survived a war have a special need to find an expres- sive outlet for their disturbing experi- ences. In the book INever Saw Another Butterfly, which documents the artwork of children held in the Terezin Concentration Camp from 1942-1944, Vaclav Havel explains, 'The souls of these children used poems and drawings as a defense, sometimes by giving vent to anxiety and at other times by depicting a dream" (Volavkova, 1993, p. 104).

Psychologists, counselors, and art therapists know that it is easier to express some memories in pictures than it is in words, and how once expressed, they are still not necessarily understood. As a teacher of art, I need to be especially aware of "listening" to the stories my students' artworks are telling. My respectful listening may be their first step in the process of healing.

A former third grade refugee student used to come to the art room during my planning periods to work on his art. He had a huge chip on his shoulder, bullying other students, defying authority, and exploding into violent tantrums. But gradually he came into the art room, drew quietly and began to speak about his home in Sudan. While I sat with him one afternoon, he spoke very softly and talked on and on about watching as his father was murdered in their home and then how his many older siblings retaliated by ganging up and killing their father's attacker-

kicking, biting and stoning him. As he told his story, he drew continuously-a picture of a Native American warrior in full battle costume, intricately drawn with a hundred or so tiny arrows lining the head dress. The finished drawing was cold, mechanical and shockingly detailed-parallel to the "repression of sensitivity" that Lambert wrote about regarding an elaborately drawn picture. Before he and his older sister moved away from our city to look for employ- ment in another state, he brought in a broken old frame. I helped him to repair the frame and we carefully mat- ted and framed his Native American drawing, to carry with him to yet another new home.

This child lived with horrors beyond my imagination and beyond his control. But he came to me, sensing help in the art room. While I was not qualified to treat his psyche, I could offer choices for him to make in the art media (some control in his life) and a quiet place for his memories to come out through the artmaking when he was ready. As I listened to his story he said, "these bad things happened to me" and I said, "yes." Being heard is the beginning of healing.

Refugee children desperately need a chance to regain their positive self- image. The trauma of both the immigration experience and fleeing war have wreaked havoc on their normal development, leaving them with dam- aged psyches and anxiety-ridden self- centeredness. Piaget describes "fixation trauma," whereby development is arrested due to trauma (Tanay, 1994, p. 236). This can be illustrated in drawings with detailed, repeated lines, dots or symbols. A heavy feeling of




apprehension, from being continuously afraid during war time, can block the student's ability to be creative in planning a drawing. I have seen that block carried within the child from across the ocean, and then obstruct that child's work on assigned art projects in my classroom. The result is an apathetic lack of curiosity when searching for images to use, and thus falling back on the repetition of well-known symbols (Tanay, 1994). Another characteristic found in the drawings that are pro- duced by children who have been traumatized by war is the depiction of objects without apparent relationship to other objects on the page, demonstrat- ing children's inability to accommodate the "unity of their perceptions" (Tanay, 1994, p.237).

THE ART TEACHER'S ROLE Students spend the most productive

part of the day in their school. Art educators have a responsibility to watch for signals in artwork that may be expressed by students with limited English proficiency. Particularly because of verbal language barriers, these students have a need to communicate through art. Students may be confronting emotional issues during the artmaking process and a level of teacher understanding beyond the typi- cal teacher-student relationship should be encouraged. We must be sensitive in "listening" to our students' pictures.

Art class is an especially effective place for immigrant and refugee students to exhibit an awareness of their new environment and to learn to get along in it, to communicate through sharing feelings in artwork, and to con- front disturbing issues and use prob- lem-solving techniques through art making processes. It is important for

art educators to remember that immigrant and refugee students may be unfamiliar with basic art supplies, resulting in awkward handling of mate- rials and frustrating results. And while these students may appreciate the visual cues offered during a directed art les- son, resulting in art class being one of the places where they feel most com- fortable, it is critical for them to also be offered a range of opportunities and a variety of art mediums in order to create at will. The power of the process of art making, and the resulting images, may have far reaching effects in the immigrant and refugee students' pre- sent and future dealings with the traumatic events from their past. Freedom to create is healthy for us all! The art curriculum can be utilized to accommodate a multitude of special student needs. Creativity, flexibility, and understanding on the part of the art educator can significantly affect the well-being and education of immigrant and refugee children.

Because of the population I work with, these concepts have long been included in my teaching philosophy- my goal in art class, in a sense, is to teach art as a "survival tool." Peter, Maja, Artem, Lubov, Vica, Bafo, Zecyn, Astrid, Vladimir, Mikhail, Jan, Emmanuel, Amis, Armen, Ataklti, Zebiba, Behai, Thuba, Hang and all of the other beautiful, colorful children have shown me the significance of this goal. I am grateful for the many lessons children have taught me through art.

'We teach them to notice- they teach us to see. We teach them to listen- they enable us to hear a voice in silence" (Tanay, 1994, p. 240).

Lisa LeflerBrunick is an elementary school art teacher in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota school district.

REFERENCES Ascher, C. (1984). The social and psychologi-

cal adjustment of southeast Asian refugees, [Online]. Available URL: http://www.ed.gov/ databases/ ERIC_Digests/ ed252638.html

el Habir, E., & Marriage, K. (1994). Teachers' perceptions of maladaptive behaviour in Lebanese refugee children [Online]. Aust NZJPsychiatry, 28,100-105. Abstract from MedLine Record, Article ID: 9437039

Harris, C.R. (1993). Identifying and serving recent immigrant children who are gifted [Online]. Available URL: http://www.ed.gov/ databases/ ERIC_Digests/ ed358676.html

Lambert, N. (1994). Art education for children in crisis: Drawings of war and peace. International SocietyforEducation through Art, 1(2), 12-16.

McCloskey, LA., & Southwick, K. (1996). Psychosocial problems in refugee children exposed to war. Pediatrics, 97 (3), 394-397.

Scott, Foresman, & Co. (Eds.). (1995). We're all in this together. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, & Company.

Tanay, E.R. (1994). Croatian and Bosnian children's art in times of war. Journal ofArt and Design Education, 13 (3), 235-240.

Virshup, E. (1993). California art therapy trends. Chicago: Magnolia Street Publishers.

Volavkova, H. (Ed.). (1993). I never saw another butterfly. New York: Schocken.

Zivcic, I. (1993). Emotional reactions of children to war stress in Croatia [Online]. Journal ofAm Acad ChildAdolescent Psychiatry, 32, 709-713. Abstract from MedLine Record, Article ID 93340000




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