Young Curator Sofia Garcia reflects on the ways expressive art serves as a powerful channel for emotional release, stress, and anxiety.
This article is part of our Young Curators series, written by high school students taking part in SITE Santa Fe’s Young Curators program.
Art plays a crucial role in supporting people as they navigate mental health challenges and strive for self-expression. The relationship between art and mental well-being is profound, as it presents an opportunity for release and self-discovery. Participation in artistic activities like drawing, listening to or making music, or writing affects our emotions and understanding of ourselves. Expressive art serves as a powerful channel for emotional release, stress, and anxiety. The act of creating a painting or making jewelry, for example, can create a positive experience as it not only boosts self-esteem but also causes a sense of accomplishment and productivity. Exposure to art can evoke sentiment, nurturing empathy and a deeper understanding of oneself and others. The intertwining of art and mental health emphasizes the vital role of creative expression in promoting psychological resilience and overall well-being.
“Dance embodies a feeling or an accumulation of feelings, allowing us to express emotions using body and breath,” says Elena Garcia, my sister and a freshman at Point Park University. “You also gain a mental release through physical release as music and body collaborate together to create a new way to communicate.” Elena started dancing when she was seven years old, always having dance embedded into who she was but, after watching the movie Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006), was brought to the realization that that was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Now she is a student at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, following her dreams of becoming a dancer. Her experience as an artist demonstrates how important art is to our mental health, as dance is not a strong art form in New Mexico where she grew up, and yet her passion for it helped her push through and succeed.
As Elena’s younger sister, growing up I looked up to her and wanted to be a dancer just like her, but felt like there was something missing, as I lacked the passion and love for it that she had. I asked her many times why she loved dancing so much. Her response confused me at first, as she always said it was a form of communication or a language she used, but later on, as I heard her explain it to me more and more, I found it inspiring. She explained that it was a way in which she could communicate and understand more about herself as her physical movement reflected her mind and provided her a sense of self understanding and release. She was able to express what she could not with words. This sent me on a journey to find something that also provided me with a similar feeling, as I never felt comfortable using words to express myself. Though dance was not the tool for me that I needed, I later discovered visual arts.
Visual art is something that has been part of my daily life as I have always doodled on the side of my paper, on my hand, and spent my free time painting or exploring different media. I have learned a lot about myself as making art quiets my mind from overthinking, stopping time and the chaotic world around me. Though I do not yet understand what I am learning about myself, during and after an art project I am filled with a sense of self understanding.
This is where I completely understood what my sister said about art being a language. It is where I can communicate with the parts of myself that I am unable to understand and bring them closer to the surface. Though visual art is not as physical as dance, through the sense of release in the mind there is also a sense of release in the body.
Hanbi Park, a junior at Santa Fe High School also attending Young Curators, explains that “art creates a form of distraction and rest for the mind as it is an alternative place to maintain thought,” providing the sensation of release from negativity. It creates a community as it brings comfort in realizing that others share similar feelings. We see this through the Young Curator program where we get to look at art from other people, talk about what the pieces mean, and the shared meaning behind them. Every form of art serves as a therapeutic and meditative process, benefiting both the creator and the viewer by understanding more about themselves and their mental health.
The Young Curators series is presented in partnership with SITE Santa Fe.
