ABSTRACT
In visual arts, one obvious characteristic is that the product results in a palpable object. For withdrawn children, the sheer fact of a painting being a manifestly separate creation which can be moulded, transformed, destroyed at the will of the creator is often experienced as immediately liberating. Withdrawal implies a breakdown in communication. The act of painting arises from an urge to communicate. Many withdrawn children may have a special problem with words. Indeed being inarticulate may have been one of the reasons for withdrawing in the first place and difficulties over ‘putting it into words’ can quickly escalate into vicious circles. Withdrawn children use painting as an exploration of life-style and as a focus for cross-media expression. The root experiences of body-imagery provide a basis for the imagery of body-politic in family or school. The critical idioms and their accompanying patterns of life-style grow out of these body-experiences.
