MFT Art Therapy Students Explore Healing Effects of Nature in Exhibit “Outside Inside: Nurturing the Wisdom of the Unknown”

"Outside Inside: Nurturing the Wisdom of the Unknown" was LMU College of Communication and Fine Arts ' first exhibition this fall. Presented by Marital and Family/ Art Therapy (MFT) students in the Thomas P. Kelly Student Gallery, it explored the intersection of nature, healing, and art.

As the paradox in its title reveals, the exhibition centered around the opposition of looking outside to understand what is inside. "The paradox of outside inside was the guiding force of the exhibit," says Maru Serricchio-Joiner, MFT arts-based director.

Student organizer and featured artist Josie Bennett, explains that the exhibit demonstrates the importance of looking to nature for wisdom about yourself. "We are a part of nature," she says. "Our insides are not so different from the natural world however opposite they may seem."

Discourse surrounding healing is not usually expected to be light and joyful. However, the overall emotions evoked by the pieces in this exhibit were joyful ones - even as they explore heavy topics like grief, heartbreak, and oppression. Bennett comments that this balance in opposition was one of the central challenges her community faced while putting together the exhibition. The artists asked themselves: How do you hold the pain but also the joy?

Several featured pieces presented the idea of embracing the inner child as a part of the healing journey. "Children are more naturally connected to nature," Bennett says. According to her, the inner child is joy itself, and embracing it is key to accepting ourselves.

The exhibit also explored how healing can come through embracing another aspect of one's past: indigenous history. Artists Natasha Daniels, Anna Liza Evangelista, and Rowena Luminarias specifically used their art to illustrate how indigenous culture embraces human connection to the natural world.

"Colonization has altered the way we live on the land. If society went back to indigenous wisdom when it comes to ecology and climate change, we would save the world from the climate crisis," Bennett says. As a climate change activist and ecologist-turned-artist, she feels that art is an appropriate and accessible first step to addressing the climate crisis. "Having your materials, your art journal, your art practice, your art community, allows you to process [climate change]."

"There is a connection to nature that exists for each person… and it's there waiting for you, and it will support you in all that you do - specifically school," Bennett says. "Outside Inside: Nurturing the Wisdom of the Unknown" prompts us to treasure this connection and use it to find balance as we heal internally - reminding us, as we reach deep into ourselves, to extend a hand out into the natural world to guide our journey.