ABSTRACT
Images made in art therapy embody thoughts and feelings. It is the capacity of art, and the arts in general, to be a bridge between the inner world and outer reality which gives the image the role as mediator. The image mediates between unconscious and conscious, holding and symbolising past, present and future aspects of a client. In a picture, ambivalence and conflict can be stated and contained. In art therapy the client tries to give form to what seems inexpressible or unspeakable through the process of making. Also important is the inner experience of seeing outwardly-the aesthetic experience. It is essentially through an aesthetic experience that the art therapist, with the clients’ permission, can enter and share the clients’ worlds and that the clients can make themselves known and found. ‘ln art, maker and beholder share the comprehension of an unspoken idea’ (Langer 1963:250).
