Arts and health: Individual healing tendencies in participatory art practices

The holistic approach stated by the constitution of World Health Organization defines health not as the absence of infirmity and disease but the state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing. The thesis tries to build a bridge in between two essential fields that provide physical, mental, and social wellbeing: Arts and Health. Throughout the history of arts, arts have a leading role in restructuring and reconstructing the society. Depending on social and cultural conditions, arts heal the wounds thoroughly especially during unstable periods when the society suffer from anxiety, loneliness, and depression. Today, the applications of different art disciplines are used to protect individual health, in addition to its contribution to healthcare institutions. Research findings show that practicing arts increase the psychological resilience of the participants and add meaning to their lives. The thesis aims to emphasize that art plays an important role in the wellbeing and recovery of individuals having physical, mental and emotional problems. Participatory art practices, which can also be defined as social art, community-based art, interventionist art, and collaborative art, strengthen social bonds and help to create collective consciousness. The reason for examining whether there are individual healing tendencies in these practices is that participatory art is a collaborative art type that opposes the traditional forms of artistic production and consumption. Besides not having a hierarchical order, gives individuals the opportunity to open a space where they can be liberated. The surprising, varying, unexpected open ended space given to the participant provides the opportunity to notice daily paradoxes and reevaluate environmental subjects besides human relationships. It reveals both disturbing and pleasurable experiences. The selected research and the findings obtained in the thesis are the proofs that art has an indispensable place in human health. This thesis, which is an interdisciplinary study on arts and health, tries to shed light on more detailed studies, research and applications.