School of Creative
Industries
Mahyuddin Chan
Mahyuddin Chan's experience with facilitating play and conducting workshops for children led him to pursue an MA in Art Therapy as a recipient of The Red Pencil Scholarship. He is also an interactive installation artist, with a BA(Hons) Fine Arts degree from LASALLE College of the Arts. Using technology as his medium, his work engages not just the viewers' gaze, but also their senses and the physicality of their bodies. Through such interactivity, viewers are invited to be collaborators in the art-making process, creating a multifaceted and inclusive experience together.
Work
Shower Thoughts
Interactive installation
Dimension variable
2021
Shower Thoughts is a no-touch interactive artwork, where the audience has to go near enough to the glass panel to hear the artist's recorded thoughts. The topic of being vulnerable arose during his MA Art Therapy studies, when peers, lecturers and guest lecturers have suggested for him to open up and be more vulnerable.
The concept for Shower Thoughts came upon the artist when he was naked in the bathroom and alone with his mind. Recording his personal thoughts in the privacy of the shower and sharing it in a public gallery is perhaps a way for the artist to express his vulnerability.
Thesis abstract
Building a therapeutic alliance through attunement and a humanistic approach within art therapy: a qualitative inquiry with two adolescent females diagnosed with global developmental delay
This thesis explores the building of therapeutic alliances using the humanistic approach and attunement with individuals diagnosed with global developmental delay in art therapy, and for whom verbal communication is minimal. The research covers multiple case vignettes using a practitioner-based heuristic inquiry. Although the individuals the art therapist trainee worked with have similar profiles, the outcomes of the therapeutic processes are significantly different, with a strong therapeutic alliance built with one individual, but not with the other. The research presents reflections on tailoring approaches to unique individuals, as well as how biases can hinder the attunement process and potentially cause a departure from the humanistic approach, both of which may contribute to the ineffective building of therapeutic alliances.