Healing Through Photography: Developing the Latent Image of the Psyche

Abstract

Contemporary culture is flooded with visual images, challenging our capacity to engage such images in a deliberate and reflective manner. Yet careful engagement with photographic images in particular can offer a sense of soul and a healing potential. Through the language of photography, this theoretical study describes the healing potential that may be found in working with images by exploring their relationship to the human psyche.

This relationship begins at the archetypal level. Creation mythologies throughout history are intertwined with the motif of Light. The light of wisdom, the light of illumination, the collision of light and dark, and the nature of light in and of itself, provide an amplificatory basis on which to contemplate the central role of light in photography.

The study utilizes the depth psychological theories of C. G. Jung and James Hillman as a frame in which to engage photographic processes and images. The inner life of these processes is taken up by turning to the symbolism of alchemy and the way Jung perceived psychological transformation at work therein. Hillman’s extensive discussion of the interdependence of psyche and image provides another pivotal point of understanding.

The parallels between photography as a method of writing with light, dream work and art therapy are then examined in order to demonstrate the way photographic images facilitate dialogue with the archetypal forms of the unconscious and promote the process of individuation. It is subsequently argued that the methods of depth psychology may be dovetailed with photography to create a healing tool that helps reveal aspects of the psychological shadow and offer creative approaches to dementia, anxiety, and depression. In summary, the study suggests that psychological healing can occur through photography by reconnecting with neglected, unconscious parts of the personality and activating archetypal motifs via images that appear in the photograph taken, in the photograph viewed, or in the photograph created.

The study is based in part on my contemplative, experiential, and experimental experience as a photographer and mythologist.