National Art Education Association

Listen to My Picture: Art as a Survival Tool for Immigrant and Refugee Students
Author(s): Lisa Lefler Brunick
Source: Art Education, Vol. 52, No. 4, Teaching Art as if the World Mattered (Jul., 1999), pp.
12-17
Published by: National Art Education Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193768
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 LISTEN TO MY PICTURE:

ArtAsa
Tool
Surviv
o manychildren,so manycolors, so manycircumstances!Thirty-sixchildrenwith limitedEnglish
proficiency(in some cases with no knowledge of English) arrivedat the elementaryschool, where
I am the artteacher,this pastfall.Joiningan alreadydiversepopulationof 500 students,these 36
new childrenfromfar-awaycountrieshave contributedtheir cultures,pictures,tears, and trea-
sures to our school community.As an arteducatorin an elementaryschool buildingwhere studentshave a
multitudeof specialneeds, includingthe inabilityto speak the Englishlanguage,I have discoveredthat a
therapeuticapproachto teaching artmore effectivelymeets the uniqueneeds of my students.
The immigrantandrefugee studentsmust contendwith unfamiliartools and routinesin the classroom,
not to mentionlong days of frustrationwhile listeningto foreignspeakingstrangers.Responses I have wit-
nessed fromthese studentswho are new to Americarange fromextreme acting-outbehavior,to exhaust-
ed, puzzledstares, and silent tears.Arttherapytechniques such as non-directeddrawingopportunities,
toleranceof shocking images, andrespectfullistening are especiallybeneficialin helpingto meet the spe-
cial needs of these children.The intentof this writingis to raise the awarenessof arteducatorsregarding
the uniquecircumstancesand specialneeds of immigrantand refugee students.
Since 1993,approximately16 millionrefugees have been displacedfromtheirhomes worldwide
(McCloskey& Southwick,1996).Hundredsof thousandshave arrivedin Americaas children-children
who awakein unfamiliarsurroundingsafterlong days and nights of internationaltravel.They findthem-
selves shuttledoffto a strangeschool buildingwith new people, unfamiliarcustoms, and a foreignlan-
guage. The fighting,fear,andpoliticalstrifeis over for them now. But also gone are theirhomes, friends,
andlife as they once knew it.The childrenwonder,'Will I reallybe OKhere in America?"
Manyschools and communitiesacross Americahave respondedwith civic dutyand hospitalityin reach-
ing out to the immigrantpopulation.There are programsdesigned to encourageand celebratecultural
diversity.But,what is being done to dealwith the psychologicalscars these people live with,who have sur-
vivedbrutalcircumstancesbefore arrivingin this country?As the interpreterfor one of our studentsfrom
Sudanpoignantlystated,'You cannotknow how we live with ourselves,with the pictureswe carryin our
heads of the war."

ART EDUCATION / JULY 1999

 BY LISA LEFLER BRUNICK

For Immigrant and

Ref unee Students

1:1stgrade
Figure student Russian
drawing. immigrant, inU.S.Non-directed
6 months Notedetails,
"free-drawing." dots,repeated
patterns.

JULY 1999 / ART EDUCATION

I
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
NEEDS
More difficultto heal thanthe dis-
eases, infectionsand malnutritionthey
maybringwith them fromimpover-
ished home lands,are the psychologi-
cal and socialwounds resultingfrom
the traumaof warand displacement.
Atrocitieswitnessed by these children
and theirfamiliesin warcamps and on
the seas before their arrivalin America
have caused psychologicalscars includ-
ing regression,withdrawal,aggression,
depression,anxiety,nightmares,defi-
ance, hyperactivity,antisocialbehavior,
actingout,vulnerability,andparanoia
(McCloskey& Southwick,1996).
Ascher (1984)studiedthe specific
age groups of childrenas they were
affectedby the immigrationprocess.
She learnedthatyoung people between
9 and 15years of age willhave com-
poundedidentityproblemsas they also
dealwith the normalperiodof adoles-
cence. They may feel guiltyaboutfami-
ly members andfriendswho were left
behind (Ascher,1984).In addition,if a
parentor relativeis an illegalimmi-
grant,the child mayfearauthorityfig-
ures (e.g., teachers and counselors),
hinderingpotentiallyclose, helpfulrela-
tionships (Harris,1993).
Childrenbetween the ages of 3 and
10years will arrivein Americawith
memories of whatthey have survived
(Ascher,1984).They willlearnEnglish
and be able to communicatetheirfears
with words. One example of this is the
followingcreativewritingassignment
by one of my fourthgradeYugoslavian
refugee students (writtenin the learn-
ing style aftera poem by Eloise
Greenfield):
ART EDUCATION / JULY 1999
I Remember*
I remember smallriverbeside
my grammahouse
my littlebirds
my goldfishes
my funnydog
my firstday in school
I remember badwar
and dead people
lots of guns
lots of sea
lots of friends
I remember a lot
but I wish I rememb ered what
I forgot
-by Maja
Majais surviving.She is nnaking
friendsthanksto her charmilng person-
alityandfriendly,good looks;.She is
learningthe Englishlanguagreand deal-
ing with the Americanschoo1system,
thanksto her LEP (LimitedI.nglish
Proficiency)teacher.Andyelt, Maja
rarelyutters a sentence in Eriglish or
Serbo-Croatian withouta first hiccup-
ping gulp of air,a tell-talesigin of the
horrorshe is holdinginside ((according
to professionalconsultation.)
Anotherexample of a refu[gee stu-
dent using an artformto dea1with the
frighteningmemories of esc<apingwar,
is 10 year old Zebiba.She haLsverbally
sharedthe events of her famiily'sheroic
effortsto flee Africamanytinaes within
our school. Recently,she wats invitedto
offerher storyat a storytellinigfestival
on a local college campus.Eaich time
Zebibais allowedto share the painof
her past,her burdenlessens.
Ascher (1984)goes on to describe
how children,at the age ofjust acquir-
ing language (12 months to 33years old)
when theirlives were sudderily inter-
ruptedby war,willlikely suffer lan-
*Boldtypewordswere originallywrittenby
the poet,EloiseGreenfield(Scott,
Foresman& Company,1995,pp. 118-
119).
guage-learningproblemsand related
neuroticbehavioras a result of the trau-
ma which disruptedthe developmental
learningprocess. Lastly,althoughthey
appearto adjustto immigrationmost
easily,Ascher(1984)is concernedthat
infants6 months to 2 years will suffer
the most long-termdamage,because of
difficultyin dealingwith nightmares
stemmingfrompreverbalmemories.
IDENTITYCRISIS
When the childrenand theirfamilies
firstarrivein America,they step imme-
diatelyinto new identities.Adultsfre-
quentlysufferthe loss of professional
status,and often the recent death of a
spouse may result in single parenting
duties.The childrenseem to learnthe
new languagefairlyeasily.Adults,how-
ever, are forcedto rely on the children
to translateanythingfromdayto day
necessities, to importantfamilybusi-
ness, to personalmedicalneeds. These
parentsoftenfeel a loss of respect and
authoritywhen they must depend on
their childrenthis way, and the chil-
drenmay resent the situationas well.
Manyfamilymembers also endure
the loss of their own name, as immigra-
tion officialsattemptto translateunfa-
miliarsounds and symbols into the
Englishlanguage.I was honored to
assist a parentof one of my Russianstu-
dents when she wantedto choose an
English formof her own Russianname.
As she rolledthe name 'Yevgeniya"
over and over offher tongue, a col-
league and I listened carefullyand
offeredpossible Englishversions. She
finallysettled on the name "Janie"and
as I printedit on paperfor the firsttime,
she pickedit up and softlysaid, "Iam
Janie."Immigrantand refugee family
members consider,'"Whowas I?"and
'Who am I?"as they strugglewith,

'Who am I to become?"
In spite of many obstacles, immi-
grantand refugee familiescontinually
striveto survive.Studies on refugee
childrenhave discoveredthatif the
nuclearfamilymanagedto escape per-
secution and stay intact,the familywas
less likelyto sufferlatersymptomsand
to subsequentlyrecoverfromthe
impactof war (McCloskey&
Southwick,1996).Ifhowever,the
mother sufferedfrom depressionas a
result of warinduced Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder(PTSD),the children
were consideredmore at risk. If one or
more of the parentswas killed in the
war,the childrenwere discoveredto be
profoundlyat risk (McCloskey&
Southwick,1996).
Anotherfactorplayinginto the
child'swell-beingis how well the parent
or caretakerresponds to stressfulor
traumaticsituations(el Habir&
Marriage,1994).In addition,a studyby
Zivcic (1993)founda low correlation
between the children'sself-reporton
the ChildDepression Inventoryand
their parents'and teachers'reporton
the Mood Scale.Apparentlythe adults
were not awareof the depressed state
of their children.
THE SCHOOL'S ROLE
Responsibleschools are designing
curriculumto meet the educational
needs of immigrantand refugee stu-
dents. What,though, is being done to
care for the students'fragileemotional
andpsychologicalneeds? Intrusiveand
disturbingmemories of warcan prohib-
it normal,healthy developmentand
impede learning.In orderfor the chil-
drento gain controlover these emo-
tions and obtain relief,it is important
for them to give expression to their
traumaticmemories and resultingfeel-
ings. Consideringthe existing lan-
2:5thgrade
Figure student Sudanese
drawing.
5
refugee, in
months Non-directed
U.S. "free
draw-
ing"Note:
flyingsnake.
guage barrierand the naturalutilization
of their own culturalheritage,expres-
sion throughartand music seems a
practicalinterventionfor immigrant
andrefugee childrenwho are at risk.
The school is a naturalsettingfor
childrento receive intervention,and art
is an effectiveway for Non-English
speakingchildrento recordtheir expe-
riences andgrapplewith their con-
cerns. Artclass can be a
non-threateningenvironment,empow-
ering childrenwith mediachoices they
arefree to make and setting secure
boundariesfor them "withinthe scope
of creativity"(Virshup,1993,p. 22).
When a child presents a drawing
that is ladenwith evidence of his or her
own personalsuffering,how does a
teacherreact?Do we trustwhat our
eyes and instinctare tellingus? How do
we decipherbetween honest, actual
experience and too much influence
fromtelevision?The firstresponse
should be to ask the child,"Whatis
your pictureabout?"Ifverballanguage
is a barrier,it is importantto readthe
student'sschool file, or request an
interpreter.It is also beneficialto know
the child'sbackgroundand to be atten-
tive to news coverage concerningpoliti-
cal conflictin other countries.Without
knowledge of each child'ssituation,it
can be difficultto understandthe signif-
icance of the images thatthey share
with us.
JULY 1999 / ART EDUCATION
 OFTHE
CHARACTERISTICS
ARTWORK
A book by Braunerdescribes the
workof two doctorswho, over the past
fiftyyears, have studied two areas
involvingartand children:the develop-
ment of childhooddrawingand draw-
ing as a way to help childrenwho are
traumatizedby war (Lambert,1994).
These two doctorshave "adopteddraw-
ing as a crucialinterventiontool"
(Lambert,1994,p. 14).They have
describedseveralcommonalitiesin the
artworkof childrenaffectedby war.
An importantpointto consideris
thatthe more elaboratethe drawings,
the more likelythere is withinthe child
a repressionof sensitivity(Lambert,
1994).Othercommonalitiesin draw-
ings by childrenaffectedby warinclude
very factualrecordingsof warevents,
and not the sensationalized,fantastic
versionthatis picturedby those who
have never experiencedit.The few
imaginarydrawingsthatoccur are
those that depictthe enemy being
defeated.Childrenof wartend to draw
airplanesas symbols of power,and
includeburninghouses, projectiles,tra-
jectoriesand cadavers (Lambert,1994).
Tanay (1994)describes the follow-
ing as some of the verbalandvisual
symbols used by childrento protect
theirconsciousness fromtrauma:
"worms,snakes, eyes, butterflies,spi-
ders, ghosts, monsters, stones, hearts,
fieryheads... holes andbirds"(p. 238).
A responsibleartteacherwill take note
of these drawnsymbols,which may
offerinsight aboutthe backgroundof
the foreignstudent (who oftenarrives
with little or no records of his or her
past). Manyof these drawingsinitially
appearnondescriptand insignificant-
ART EDUCATION / JULY 1999
and so to really"hear"what a pictureis
saying,it is most importantfor the
teacherto learnas much abouthis or
her students as possible.The imagery
they trustus with should not be taken
lightly.Together with specificknowl-
edge, it can provideclues and critical
informationaboutthe child'swell-
being.
Childrenhave much to say, and cer-
tainlychildrenwho have surviveda war
have a specialneed to findan expres-
sive outletfor their disturbingexperi-
ences. In the book INever SawAnother
Butterfly,which documentsthe artwork
of childrenheld in the Terezin
ConcentrationCampfrom 1942-1944,
VaclavHavelexplains,'The souls of
these childrenused poems and draw-
ings as a defense, sometimes by giving
vent to anxietyand at other times by
depictinga dream"(Volavkova,1993,p.
104).
Psychologists, counselors,and art
therapistsknow thatit is easier to
express some memories in pictures
thanit is in words, andhow once
expressed, they are stillnot necessarily
understood.As a teacher of art,I need
to be especiallyawareof "listening"to
the stories my students'artworksare
telling.My respectfullisteningmaybe
theirfirststep in the process of healing.
A formerthirdgrade refugee stu-
dent used to come to the artroom dur-
ing my planningperiodsto work on his
art.He had a huge chip on his shoulder,
bullyingother students,defyingauthor-
ity, and explodingintoviolenttantrums.
Butgraduallyhe came into the art
room, drew quietlyandbegan to speak
abouthis home in Sudan.While I sat
with him one afternoon,he spoke very
softlyandtalkedon and on about
watchingas his fatherwas murderedin
theirhome andthen how his many
older siblings retaliatedby ganging up
andkillingtheirfather'sattacker-
kicking,bitingand stoninghim. As he
told his story,he drewcontinuously-a
pictureof a NativeAmericanwarriorin
fullbattlecostume, intricatelydrawn
with a hundredor so tiny arrowslining
the head dress. The finished drawing
was cold, mechanicaland shockingly
detailed-parallel to the "repressionof
sensitivity"that Lambertwrote about
regardingan elaboratelydrawnpicture.
Beforehe andhis older sister moved
awayfromour city to look for employ-
ment in anotherstate,he broughtin a
brokenold frame.I helped him to
repairthe frameandwe carefullymat-
ted andframedhis NativeAmerican
drawing,to carrywith him to yet anoth-
er new home.
This child livedwith horrorsbeyond
my imaginationandbeyond his control.
But he came to me, sensing help in the
artroom.While I was not qualifiedto
treathis psyche, I could offerchoices
for him to make in the artmedia (some
controlin his life) and a quietplace for
his memories to come out throughthe
artmakingwhen he was ready.As I lis-
tened to his storyhe said, "thesebad
things happenedto me"and I said,
"yes."Being heardis the beginning of
healing.
Refugeechildrendesperatelyneed a
chance to regaintheir positiveself-
image.The traumaof both the immi-
grationexperience andfleeing war
have wreakedhavoc on their normal
development,leavingthem with dam-
aged psyches and anxiety-riddenself-
centeredness. Piaget describes
"fixationtrauma,"whereby develop-
ment is arresteddue to trauma(Tanay,
1994,p. 236).This can be illustratedin
drawingswith detailed,repeatedlines,
dots or symbols.A heavy feeling of
apprehension,frombeing continuously
afraidduringwartime, can block the
student'sabilityto be creativein plan-
ning a drawing.I have seen thatblock
carriedwithinthe childfromacross the
ocean, andthen obstructthatchild's
work on assigned artprojectsin my
classroom.The result is an apathetic
lack of curiositywhen searchingfor
images to use, and thus fallingback on
the repetitionof well-knownsymbols
(Tanay,1994).Anothercharacteristic
foundin the drawingsthat are pro-
duced by childrenwho have been trau-
matizedby waris the depictionof
objectswithoutapparentrelationshipto
other objects on the page, demonstrat-
ing children'sinabilityto accommodate
the "unityof their perceptions"(Tanay,
1994,p.237).
THE ART TEACHER'S ROLE
Studentsspend the most productive
partof the day in their school. Artedu-
catorshave a responsibilityto watchfor
signals in artworkthatmay be
expressed by studentswith limited
English proficiency.Particularly
because of verballanguagebarriers,
these studentshave a need to commu-
nicate throughart.Studentsmaybe
confrontingemotionalissues during
the artmakingprocess and a level of
teacherunderstandingbeyond the typi-
cal teacher-studentrelationshipshould
be encouraged.We must be sensitive in
"listening"to our students'pictures.
Artclass is an especiallyeffective
placefor immigrantand refugee stu-
dents to exhibit an awarenessof their
new environmentand to learnto get
along in it, to communicatethrough
sharingfeelings in artwork,andto con-
frontdisturbingissues and use prob-
lem-solvingtechniques throughart
makingprocesses. It is importantfor
arteducatorsto rememberthatimmi-
grantand refugee studentsmay be
unfamiliarwith basic artsupplies,
resultingin awkwardhandlingof mate-
rialsandfrustratingresults.Andwhile
these students may appreciatethe visu-
al cues offeredduringa directedartles-
son, resultingin artclass being one of
the places where they feel most com-
fortable,it is criticalfor them to also be
offereda range of opportunitiesand a
varietyof artmediums in orderto cre-
ate at will.The powerof the process of
artmaking,andthe resultingimages,
may have farreachingeffects in the
immigrantand refugee students'pre-
sent andfuturedealingswith the trau-
maticevents fromtheir past.Freedom
to createis healthyfor us all!The art
curriculumcan be utilizedto accommo-
date a multitudeof specialstudent
needs. Creativity,flexibility,andunder-
standingon the partof the arteducator
can significantlyaffectthe well-being
and educationof immigrantand
refugee children.
Because of the populationI work
with, these concepts have long been
includedin my teachingphilosophy-
my goal in artclass, in a sense, is to
teach artas a "survivaltool."Peter,
Maja,Artem,Lubov,Vica,Bafo,Zecyn,
Astrid,Vladimir,Mikhail,Jan,
Emmanuel,Amis, Armen,Ataklti,
Zebiba,Behai,Thuba,Hang and all of
the otherbeautiful,colorfulchildren
have shown me the significanceof this
goal. I am gratefulfor the manylessons
childrenhave taughtme throughart.
'We teach them to notice-
they teach us to see.
We teach them to listen-
they enable us to hear
a voice in silence"
(Tanay,1994,p. 240).
Lisa LeflerBrunickis an elementary
schoolart teacherin the SiouxFalls,
SouthDakotaschooldistrict.
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JULY 1999 / ART EDUCATION