Vony Ranala facilitates a workshop dedicated to expression and personal fulfillment for women. Creating extends beyond producing a work of art. Art can contribute to greater self-knowledge, facilitate emotional expression, and help overcome certain psychological blocks. Without claiming medical healing, artistic practices offer many people a space for expression and personal reconstruction. Malagasy artists Vony Ranala and Mira Andrianarisoa share this conviction through their experiences.
Vony Ranala prefers to speak of the link between art and healing rather than use the term "art therapy," which she considers too broad. According to her, it is primarily a process where artistic practice allows one to overcome psychological, emotional, physical, relational, or social blocks. "Well-chosen tools manipulated under the right conditions can work miracles," she affirms. All forms of art—theater, slam, dance, photography, and writing—can become means of regaining self-confidence, improving communication, managing emotions, or finding one's place among others.
Art can also act through simple encounter with a work. Vony Ranala evokes the cathartic power of theater or the effect music can have on a person. For her, the specificity of this approach lies in the absence of medication or medical devices: speech, games, drawings, movements, and questioning become the main tools of support. She reminds us, however, that this approach does not work the same way for everyone and does not promise perfection, but rather a personal journey.
Professional photographer, UPPM member, co-director of Ymagoo, and photographer at Bitiky studio, Mira Andrianarisoa develops phototherapy. "The objective is not technical performance or aesthetics, but to make the invisible visible in order to promote self-expression and restore self-esteem," she explains. Through the camera, she invites people to look upon themselves with kindness in order to reconcile with their body, their history, and their emotions.
This approach addresses people facing low self-esteem, complexes related to their image, emotional blocks, or transition periods such as postpartum, post-operative recovery, or separation. Her artistic universe favors black and white portraits, where emotion, vulnerability, and authenticity take precedence over appearance. "Seeing oneself truly through a benevolent gaze is the first step toward healing," she emphasizes.
A multidisciplinary artist, actress, director, and author, Vony Ranala has worked in contemporary theater, slam, dance, photography, and children's literature for nearly 20 years. She also directs the artistic laboratory Nouvelles Scènes Madagascar (NSMLabo).