Scapegoats I am exploring the idea of resilience of the scapegoat. Through our group discussions, more and more goats began to appear with unique qualities including adaptations and resilience to harder living environments.
This reminded me of a young boy I worked with who attended a group I ran last year. He often became the scapegoat within the group, and at times he appeared to often allow this readily and sacrifice himself when the difficult emotions / projections occurred within the group. This appeared to be something mirrored in his family life on which he would take on the role of the 'bad' child within his family. He appeared to do this willingly and it seemed as though this was his way of protecting his Mother and sister. A large part of the work for him within the group was to encourage him to allow himself to remain within the group.
Katy’s previous art making incorporated textiles and the traditions of quilt making to explore both past and present experiences of love, loss, memory and the complexities of the maternal relationship over two generations within her own family. Katy explored the transformation of the emotional experiences of grieving in these maternal relationships following the passing of her mother’s mother. She explored her developing relationship with her own mother and grandmother through the transformation of handmade dresses both belonging to and made by her grandmother. These dresses held significant memories for both women in the passing down of skills from mother to daughter and in the emotionally full memories that are associated with clothing, materials and belongings.
Katy works as a self employed art psychotherapist in primary schools across south east London.