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Pieces Of Place: Finding Meaning Through The Material And Process Of Artisanal Craft In Central Mexico, Eliza S. Homer

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

The research in this study focused on how storytelling through artmaking, specifically, narrative embroidered story cloths (tela bordada) has been used traditionally in rural Central Mexico. The study explored place-based identities and traditions embedded in the culture, and examined how these processes could potentially be incorporated into art therapy practice in these communities. The research question, “What is the experience of engagement in tela bordada?” illuminated the meaning of Indigenous theory and expanded the import of the experience of the material and process. This led to the discovery of finding meaning explicit in the participants’ experiences and implicit …