‘As an art therapist, I’m working with people who feel that they’re not good at art, not artists and don’t have permission to use art materials,’ says La Trobe lecturer Dr Libby Byrne.

While thousands of artists and workers in the creative industry have been impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns, many ordinary people have taken up art at home as a form of light relief and to occupy their children.

Dr Byrne questions what it means to call yourself an artist and asks whether it is possible to redefine this title to include everyone.

In this video, she begins to explore the question through kinetic sand, a unique material used to help art therapy patients understand their felt sense.

Interested in the arts? Subscribe to the new La Trobe Art Institute journal MATTER, which contains content that discusses how arts practice helps us better understand the world and our place in shaping it.