Posted on September 24, 2019 by Michelle Skidmore
In 2016, Master of Social Work Associate Professor Candace Christensen participated in an international conference in Budapest, Hungary focused on trauma. As part of this conference, Christensen was invited to write a book chapter on how to write personal stories and compose photographs as a tool for healing trauma resulting from sexual violence.
To illustrate, Christensen shared her personal experience with campus sexual violence by creating photographs and story-like descriptions of the pictures. The book chapter "Engaging Trauma Resulting from Sexual Violence through Autoethnography and Photovoice” focuses on her process of creating the images and the story and is featured in the book Topography of Trauma: Fissures, Disruptions, and Transfigurations published by Brill | Rodopi
Within the chapter, Christensen also talks about the creative work developed by a few of the conference attendees. The creative works include a modern dance performance focused on healing from a physical assault (by Marie F. Forcier) and Dharma Art created by Nicholas Quin Serenati as a way to cope with his leukemia diagnosis. In addition, Christensen provides an overview of the scientific roots that show how using photography and story-telling can heal trauma.
— Michelle Skidmore
