Marielle Rivard

"Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide." - D.W. Winnicott

Squiggles were used in a therapeutic context by British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott (1896-1971). Children and adults were invited to scribble troubled lines, and then create new meaning by transforming the messy drawing into an image. Squiggles are still being used in therapy mostly with children, but also with adults interested in the art therapy space. Drawing is considered by most psychologists a form of symbolization, a process where symbols are being linked together to create meaning and contribute to a better understanding of our emotional experience.