I felt that in creating a “mini El Duende” much of the important aspects of the process were lost. Because the entire piece was meant to be completed in an hour or so, there was little time for reflection and exploration of the imagery and process. I don’t feel very connected to my piece, and I am unsure if it is really an unconscious expression or, more likely, a random assortment of colors and images that make up a mixed media artwork. However, the El Duende process intrigues me. I am very moved by the videos and images of other artists’ El Duendes and have a strong desire to engage in the process over an extended period of time, including journaling and conversation about the content and progression of the piece.
In conceptualizing this process for a specific population, I wanted to focus on the El Duende
as it is traditionally described, as a lengthy conversation with one canvas in which images transform and change as time passes. In thinking of the El Duende this way, I came to see the benefits of this process for adolescents with feeding and eating disorders. Eating disorders disrupt emotional awareness, and people with eating disorders often struggle with identifying and expressing emotional experience. Because El Duende is “the artist’s struggle as unconscious material becomes conscious through the transcendent function of art making...” (Chilton et. al., 2020, p. 1) this process may allow for the development of a new language of expression, and put clients in touch with their own unconscious layers of feeling and meaning. Adolescents with feeding and eating disorders also have a complicated relationship to their body, which is undergoing significant transformation via the eating disorder itself and the effects of puberty and hormonal changes. These changes can be destabilizing and dysphoric, causing distress. An El Duende may act as a container for a safer type of transformation, one that is relegated to the body of the canvas. The desire to manipulate and control one’s body may find an outlet in the process of manipulating and changing a work of art beyond recognition. Both the single canvas, and the process of returning to the art piece at regular intervals provides consistency amidst change, offering an opportunity for grounding and regulation (Chilton et. al., 2020). Finally, eating disorder recovery is often a slow process that requires patience and understanding. Because the El Duende requires a significant amount of time to complete, it mirrors the recovery process--it cannot be completed quickly and requires time and space for reflection and growth.
References
Chilton, G., Lynskey, K., Ohnstad, E., & Manders, E. (2020). A Case of El Duende: Art-Based Supervision in Addiction Treatment. Art Therapy, 1-9.