1. How did you become an art therapist? What made you decide to take this course?

Around 30 years ago, I moved to Lausanne in French-speaking Switzerland to study Social and Educational Sciences. I’ve always had an attraction for the visual arts, and I used to go to museums, where I felt a sense of well-being and relaxation. That’s how I came to think that, just as music therapy existed, art therapy had to exist too. At the time, we didn’t hear anything about it. I searched the university library and found a few books. I wanted to integrate the study of art therapy into my Master’s degree in Social Sciences, by mixing it with the myth of the mad artist and its social representation. I also delved into the Art Brut movement. When I was writing my Master’s degree, I became convinced that, at least from a theoretical point of view, art therapy could bring benefits to the people who practised it.

This would have allowed me to combine my passion for art and my studies in social work in a single profession. That’s why I turned to the cantonal guidance service, where among other things, I discovered an art therapy school in Lausanne. After four years of part-time studies and work placements, I was ready to launch myself into the world of work as an art therapist. And here I am, 20 years later. I was lucky to meet a senior physician, Dr. V. Pezzoli, who has an artistic sensibility and a keen ear for complementary therapies that are useful for better care of paediatric patients. I was also fortunate to have firstly the commitment of Mrs Leber and then the Fondation ART-THERAPIE, which enabled me to receive financial support for my work in hospital. Without this support, there would be no art therapy for children in hospital. I can’t fail to express my deepest thanks. They also go to all those who regularly or occasionally support the Fondation ART-THERAPIE with fundamental donations, regardless of the amount offered. These thanks come from me, but also, if I may say so, from the young patients and their families who have been treated in the Paediatrics Department and, since 2022, in the Child Psychiatry Department.

2. What do you enjoy most about your job?

Many patients find the art therapy workshop a place where they can share their own suffering, doubts and fears, as well as their hopes, abilities, resources and plans. Each creation has its own story that unfolds and evolves over the course of the hospital stay. Each life story is a world that can barely be glimpsed through the works that follow, almost like a museum room. What makes the difference is that the ‘artists’ are there and interacting with me, they can give meaning to their work and, through this act, give meaning to their experiences, ideas, wishes, and so on. Giving meaning, discovering, clarifying, sharing, relieving, enriching, supporting – all these acts that encourage me to forge ahead in this wonderful profession, despite the sometimes truly touching and distressing situations.

3. How long have you been active in the Foundation’s projects?

I’ve been working at Lugano’s regional hospital (Civico) for 20 years.

4. Which artist would you like to dine with and why? 

And on closer inspection, in contemporary installations such as Ernesto Neto’s SunForceOceanLife, I see therapy as well as art. It’s a spiral work about 25 metres high. It is a suspended installation divided into sections that the spectator crosses by walking on a threshold made of pellets. As a result, the road ahead is uncertain.

I’d love to have breakfast (my favourite meal) with this artist who works with crochet, because I do too, but on a smaller scale. I’d like to share the experience of creating through this supple, warm method, which is just how grandma used to do it (in fact, it was her grandmother who taught her), which requires concentration to avoid missing stitches, but which also offers great freedom of spirit in the creation of shapes and colours. I’d like to discuss the symbol of the centripetal spiral, which is often expressed by patients (especially those suffering from eating disorders) as a symbol of their illness. The notion of balance also needs to be explored; how the public perceives the suspended, irregular and moving path. The concept of balance underlies every experience of suffering, illness and healing, and is common to all living beings, art therapists included.

5. What did you want to be when you were little? 

When I was little, I would have liked to become a hairdresser, but my dermatological problems prevented me from doing so. As the saying goes, “one door closes, another opens”. The hairdresser plays with colours and cuts, and listens to the lives of his customers; perhaps there was already a seed of art therapy in the idea of this profession.