Public Therapy Theater Tour

This project was initially conceived as part of an artistic residency with AM Qattan Foundation in Ramallah.

The initial idea was to bring therapy into public spaces through a kind of public therapy intervention piece.

Given my background in architecture, design, and psychology, I was interested to explore the ways that we could design safe spaces for people to share freely, to release their burdens, (inspired by positive psychology and talk therapy methodologies) in the public realm.

The idea was to create a ‘therapeutic’ box, and to re-invent how we interact in public space: to turn it inward & create safe spaces for personal expression. Inevitably, these personal narratives turned political. The vehicle itself became a tool for personal and political expression, and most stories became a living testimony of life under the occupation.

Because freedom of movement is limited in the West Bank, we created a therapeutic space that could travel to serve different communities across the area. We took the metallic sketelon of a Coca Cola trailer, and converted it into ‘a modern confessional.’

As part of the tour, we conducted a series of workshops throughout ten different locations in the West Bank. We spoke to more than 100 individuals, and collected video, audio, and visual testimonials of their personal experiences.