ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of creative expression in healing. Creative expression is an ancient affective language of humans, animals, and many other forms of life. Creative expression is the process of engaging with innovative, unconscious, and fresh thoughts and emotions, experimenting with sound and reconnecting with the ancient while thinking and exploring feelings through tactile methods of fabricating or making. The chapter examines two examples of how creative expression has been colonized. In the section on music in war, the chapter outlines the soundtrack of colonial war making from Custer’s Gerryowen to the heavy metal of Abu Gharib. In visual art as colonial expression, John Gast’s painting American Progress is examined in its portrayal of Indigeneity. The colonization of creative expression has an impact on artistic standards and tastes, which has an impact on how communities and individuals view themselves. The chapter briefly explores how creative expression has been used in healing. Psychology and social work have a long tradition of using art, music, and other forms of creative expression in interventions. Creative expression thus became seen as a means to uncover the unconscious as well as connecting to others as healing process. The chapter ends with a story about music in Arikara culture.
