Art therapy in Australia, taking a postcolonial, aesthetic turn

This edited book aims to explore and embody emergent art and therapy practices through an inquiry into the diverse ways that the therapeutic possibilities of visual art have been taken up in a specific postcolonial context – contemporary Australia. It will be the first book to map the terrain of these practices which encompass, studio-based, indigenous, socially engaged, narrative and psychoanalytic approaches to art therapy. The book explores and enacts the vibrant interface of Australian art therapy with contemporary art and with the politics and practices of art education and community development. In doing so, the book aims not only to document and describe what is different about art therapy in Australia but also to interrogate, deconstruct and challenge the dominant discourses of British and American art therapy through tapping into the critical consciousness of a colonised country.