The Therapeutic and Transformative Impact of Making Collages

In this short essay, I present the process of making collages through one year (from March 2020 to April 2021) of the COVID-19 pandemic and analyze its therapeutic and transformative impact on me. I also discuss importance of being mindful, attentive, accepting, and contemplating during this process. The pursuit of making collages was my main coping strategy during the stressful and challenging coronavirus epidemic. First of all, it gave me a sense of purpose, competence, and growth as a human being as well as a collage artist. Making collages became the outlet of my dark thoughts and negative emotions and the source of positive emotions of interest, joy, acceptance, resourcefulness, satisfaction, and enthusiasm. My frustration regarding coronavirus situation was channelled into enjoyable artistic experience. Making collages not only enhanced my flexibility and problem-solving skills, but also increased my concentration and attention to details. During this process, I let myself be affected by the external events as well by the internal world of my emotions, memories, images, and dreams.