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Transcript/ScriptCONNECT Impact Artist (TV)
HEADLINE: Healing Through Creativity
TEASER: Artist intertwines emotional liberation, self-love, and healing creativity in art therapy
PUBLISHED AT: 11/06/2023
BYLINE: Zdenko Novacki
DATELINE: Washington, DC
VIDEOGRAPHER: Philip Alexiou, Zdenko Novacki
PRODUCER: Zdenko Novacki
COURTESIES:
SCRIPT EDITORS: AK, MJ
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:54
VID APPROVED BY: AK, MJ
TYPE: VPKGF
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((Eds: This is a self-narrated feature.))
((INTRO))
[[Aida Murad is a spiritual artist who embraces art as a powerful mode of emotional liberation and self-love. She utilizes painting not simply as a form of expressing herself but also as a therapeutic journey, seamlessly linking the worlds of mental health and creativity. VOA’s Zdenko Novacki shares her inspiring tale from Washington, D.C.]]
((NATS))
((Aida Murad, Spiritual Artist)) Mental health is really important to me. And the intersection of mental health and art is extremely powerful and important. So, I always say that art is not meant to be a luxury. Art is a critical tool for all of us to help us with our inner and our outer lives. Art helps us foster this, this contained emotions,
((Courtesy: Aida Murad))
not just foster them, but help whatever needs to come out, come out, because our body stores emotions, stores memories.
((NATS))
Through art, I process my emotions. I connect through the beyond. It's a form of meditation. It is a form of enjoyment. It is a form of self-love. It is a freeing experience.
((NATS))
((Aida Murad, Spiritual Artist)) I remember the first day I painted, which was in 2014. And I painted that day because of two really sad news. One is, doctors said I’ll likely never use my hands again because I was having bone erosion, which I have now in this hand, though, which means that they're, they’re just permanently damaged. And they said at the rate that you're, the damage is happening, you'll likely never use your hands again. And at the same time, I was applying for jobs and people asked me, “Why should we hire you?” And I didn't have, again, the mental health language to say I am depressed. I just said, “I have no idea.”
((NATS))
((Aida Murad, Spiritual Artist))
The hardest part was my mentality, which was switching from the societal narratives that have been imprinted on us, which are: You have to be a starving artist. That if you are an artist, you will likely make little to no money. Or, if you are to be an artist, like they show this in film a lot, that you will create your best work when you are on substances or when you're depressed. And again, I've been through depression. I didn't want to go there again. I don't believe in substances. So, I didn't want to be any of these. I didn't want to be a starving artist, I didn't want to be an artist on substances, and I didn't want to be depressed. So, I was like, “How else can I be an artist? What, is there another way?”
((Courtesy: Aida Murad))
So just to even reprogram that, it took a lot of breaking down and community to help me say, show me that, “Hey, Aida, you can do art and you can be thriving.”
((NATS))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Washington, DC
Embargo DateNovember 6, 2023 19:34 EST
Byline
Zdenko Novacki
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
