What is Alternative Art Therapy?
Alternative Art Therapy at Being Intimate is a therapeutic practice that uses fine art—specifically photography and image-making—as a medium for reflection, awareness, and relational inquiry.
This work is based on the understanding that much of our inner world does not live in language. Beliefs, patterns, longings, defenses, and relational habits often exist beneath conscious thought, expressed through sensation, posture, impulse, and image rather than words.
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Alternative Art Therapy creates a structured space where these layers can surface—not through interpretation or analysis, but through direct experience. The image becomes a meeting point between what is felt and what can be seen. Something internal takes form outside of you, making it possible to relate to it with more clarity and choice.
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Merging Therapeutic Practice with Fine Art
This work emerges from the intersection of therapeutic presence and Sara's unique fine art practice.
From therapy, it draws containment, attunement, reflection, and ethical responsibility. From fine art, it draws attention, exploration, composition, framing, and the capacity to stay with complexity without forcing meaning.
Rather than just talking about experience, we work with it as it unfolds. The creative process becomes a live field of information: how you position yourself, how you respond to being seen, what you include or exclude, where tension arises, where movement becomes possible.
Nothing is created to be judged, improved, or performed. The image is not evaluated aesthetically, nor is it interpreted psychologically. Instead, it is approached with curiosity and care—as something that holds information about how you relate to yourself, to visibility, to presence, and to contact. This merging allows insight to arise organically, without explanation being forced too early.
This work uses art as a reflective surface — a way for inner experience to take form and be observed.
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What is an Artistic Anchor?
An Artistic Anchor is a central element of this work. It is the image—or visual material—that is created during the session and then used as a point of reference during reflection and integration. The anchor holds the experience in a tangible form, allowing you to return to it without having to recreate or re-explain what was felt.
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Unlike memory or conversation, an artistic anchor does not shift with retelling. It remains stable. You can look at it again and notice something new. You can feel how your relationship to it changes over time. It offers distance without disconnection.
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The artistic anchor is not a diagnosis, a conclusion, or a statement. It is a living reference point—one that supports integration, self-awareness, and continued inquiry beyond the session itself.
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Examples of Artistic Anchors created during Alternative Art Therapy:
In session
The session starts with an in-depth conversation about your relationship with your body, where you’ll explore the beliefs, perceptions, and experiences that shape how you view, express and interact with your physical self. This discussion will also provide space for you to share your thoughts, set clear intentions, and establish personal boundaries.
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​Following this conversation, the artistic process unfolds. During the photoshoot, we creatively deconstruct and reconfigure your body using black elements to shape new forms. This approach does not alter your body but invites a fresh perspective through artistic expression. Sara will guide you in exploring your human form in a safe, creative space, helping you address how upbringing, society, insecurities and traumas influence the way your experience your own body. The artistic approach fosters self-acceptance and offers a new perspective where you get to view your body as a vessel of creation.
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The sessions concludes with a reflective conversation on your experiences and feelings from the session. For a comprehensive integration of these insights, we recommend scheduling a follow-up Individual Coaching session to help apply these new understandings into your everyday life and support lasting change.​
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Examples of reasons people come to Sara for Alternative Art Therapy:
Transforming
body image.
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Individuals with negative body image or low self-esteem may seek this therapy to reconnect with their bodies. By creatively exploring the naked form, they can challenge ingrained beliefs and foster a more positive, accepting view of themselves.
Processing trauma.
Those with trauma, particularly related to their bodies or appearance, can use this therapy to process and release emotional burdens stored in the body, expressing deep-seated emotions in a safe, artistic environment.
Exploring identity.
People undergoing significant life changes, such as gender transition, recovery from injury or bodily changes through aging, might use this therapy to explore and express their evolving identity, using art and bodywork as a means of self-discovery.
Overcoming shame.
Individuals struggling with shame or discomfort around their bodies may seek this therapy to confront and release these emotions. Engaging in the creative process allows them to transform vulnerability into empowerment, fostering self-acceptance.
Building intimacy with self.
Those looking to deepen their self-relationship can use this therapy to explore their inner world in an intimate, embodied way, cultivating self-awareness and self-compassion through artistic expression.