Unveiling the Power of Art Therapy
Unveiling the Power of Art Therapy
OK’TAVA Open Arts is a unique collaboration lead by academia, cultural venues, medical professionals, artists and the United Nations.
It explores the impact of arts and healing traditions on individual and collective well-being.
It expands and blends the boundaries of traditional art therapy and medical health practices.
OK'TAVA is an open arts platform designed to foster connection and healing by the means of your 5 senses. Bridging gaps and building a sense of community, OK'TAVA stands as a sanctuary where the universal language of art transcends barriers and nurtures the human spirit.
WHO// Arts & Health Magazine, in collaboration with OK'TAVA
'WHO // Arts and Health’ is a multimedia project that brings together diverse communities in a conversation that delivers real-world healing. It is a unique collaboration between the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, in collaboration with the WHO, le Musée d’Art et d’Histoire (MAH), OK’TAVA Open Arts, Art Genève, Addictlab, and the SDG Fablab of the University of Geneva.
Taking root in UN SDG3 (Good Health & Well-being), the project branches out into the vivid universe where urgent public health needs converge and converse with the healing power of the arts.
Experts from the UN, academia (EPFL, UNIGE, NYU), leading cultural and art venues, medical centers, as well as artists and health practitioners themselves, offer a wide array of synergies in their essays and practices. These include NeuroGraphica as a means to connect to our inner speech, overcoming war trauma and isolation through art therapy, the 'identifiable victim effect' as a bridge from the one to the many, harnessing internal talent in a WHO art gallery, finding peace and justice in a real-life/real-time opera, connecting vulnerable communities through the language of masterpieces at MAH, and the unique healing potential of arts supported by empirical studies at the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, in collaboration with the WHO, NYU Steinhardt, Community Jameel and Culturunners.
Welcome to the creative world of OK'TAVA
“U4U and OK'TAVA are tearing down the walls of conventional therapy. Their key message is that in a world stormed by the noise of gadgets, torn apart by a pandemic, and fractured by climate change and violent conflicts, verbal communication is a rusty key that does not fit the lock anymore. Especially when a refugee fleeing a war cannot be cured by traditional counselling or even simple soothing words. That is where the convictions of OK'TAVA kick in.”
— Nadya Shelegoff, Portland State University, WHO//Arts&Health Special Issue, January 2024
"The integration of such initiatives as OK’TAVA into therapeutic discourse underscores the broader impact of creative expression on mental well-being, fostering inclusion and resilience. This interconnected approach supports the profound influence of art therapy beyond individual narratives, weaving a tapestry of support and solidarity within
communities."
— Vicky Tsiaousi, Art Therapist MSc, CERN Welcome Club
OK'TAVA NEWS
❣️Special edition on 'WHO// Arts & Health'
❣️Peace Walk at WEF in Davos
❣️Art-Tickle Talks at artgeneve
❣️ Peace Lean-ins and Kid2Kid Tees, presented at Artgeneve 2024
OK’TAVA Heals Hearts through Arts
Nadya SHELEGOFFPortland State University