Julia Byrne: I really didn’t know how much I was editing myself until I didn’t have to. I went to a Dark Arts meeting and it was just kind of a big flood of honesty and vulnerability that I hadn’t had in a while, and it was a big release.
Text on screen: Emory Dark Arts is a student group addressing mental health through art. Students can be vulnerable and share their struggles.
Julia Byrne: I would say vulnerability is being honest with yourself and nonjudgmental with yourself and expressing that to other people who you trust not to use that against you.
Text on screen: Art therapy has been recognized since the 1960s. It is an effective treatment for several mental illnesses.
Julia Byrne: Because we’re all gathered under the assumption that we have similar experiences and similar desires for vulnerability, it is very easy to open up about things. What tends to happen is that people hear things that they recognize and that they want to talk about, and it’s really powerful to hear.
Elizabeth Johnson 