Journal May 2026 Release_Full Edition - Flipbook - Page 29
28
Aesthetic ideas can decenter and reposition humanity within our narrative
practices, fostering alternatives to collective disenfranchisement.
The terrapsychologist Craig Chalquist (2021) asks a crucial question: “What
emerges when we … put the presence of the world at the center of psychology?”
(para. 4). Reflecting on Chalquist’s challenge to a narrative approach, I revisit the
evolution of Western art discussed in “Breaking the Frame–Part One,” where
passive spectators of a fixed, objectified world picture become active participants
in immersive environments (Cotter, 2023). We see life and art merge in
interactive processes, and media engage us with both nature and technology.
Traditional notions of a central protagonist, inner and outer, foreground and
background, dissolve into new options for making meaning. Deleuze (1968/1994;
Deleuze & Guattari, 1987) challenged our reliance on first-person human
perspectives, and Foucault (1966/1970) rejected giving “… absolute priority to the
observing subject …” (p. xiv). By breaking the frame of realism and the illusion of
separateness between subject and object, our clients’ narratives unfold in cocreation with life’s forces in ways that are inseparable, continuous, and
boundless. I am reminded of Deleuze’s (2006) concept of the fold, which draws on
Baroque art and Spinoza’s philosophy and, instead of centering the individual,
shifts our understanding of inner and outer forms. Aesthetics can help us create a
more-than-human, vital, and fluid ecology among our clients, ourselves, and the
larger world.
New forms of life
Art and narrative bring new ideas to life, creating encounters and differences that
assemble collaborative dialogue between abstract thought and material form. As
narrative therapists, we engage in political and philosophical conversations not as
intellectual theories but as awakenings to a heart-led life aligned with our values
and hopes. I find inspiration in many philosophers and writers whose work
supports my artistic interests. Deleuze reminds us of the vitality that arises when
our imaginations venture beyond established categories, interpretations, and
plots to actively participate in shared acts of becoming. The Colombian scholar
Arturo Escobar (2018) describes the pluriverse, a concept that encompasses
Breaking the Frame: Aesthetic Encounters with Narrative Practice – Part Three
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, May 2026 Release, p. 25-51.
www.journalnft.com
