Art therapy is said to help heal the psychological scars of not only the creator, but also those who view the work.

And that is precisely the philosophy behind an intriguing exhibition now under way in Tokyo by a group of artists who all at one time or other attempted suicide. They are graduates of Tokyo-based Aurora Co., whose founder also tried to kill herself.

ONE WOMAN’S STORY

One of the artists represented is Sachiko Yashiro, who is 40 years old and as a teenager never expected to live this long.

In the summer when she was 13, Yashiro tried to starve herself to death. She ended up in hospital after she fasted for two weeks straight, and her weight fell below 25 kilograms.

She wanted to die because her daily existence was a nightmare. Violence was a way of life among those close to her and she feared it would only escalate as she grew older.

Yashiro figured she had found a way out after she came across a library book packed with nutritional information. She memorized the calories for various foods and gradually reduced the amount she ate.

While the symptoms of her anorexia receded after hospitalization, they were replaced by binge eating. The hospital meals were not enough so she scavenged for leftovers from other patients.

She spent about a year in the hospital, but her bulimia continued. She ate everything she could at home and vomited into a bucket.

Yashiro majored in fashion in senior high school, where a teacher praised her designs. She forgot about her problems when she was drawing sketches, and her bulimia symptoms receded.

But they returned after she began working following graduation from a vocational school. She became downcast when thoughts of dying returned, albeit in a slightly different form.

A turning point came when Yashiro was 25 and she read about Tokyo-based Aurora online. It was holding courses to train art therapists.

On the day she first visited the Aurora office, its head, Ruriko Kato, 76, told her, “First of all, we must hold a counseling session.”

Yashiro spoke for hours about her past, and slowly her thoughts of self-reproach began to ebb.

The time Yashiro spent at Aurora was not all pleasant because drawing forced her to face up to the weak points of her personality. But she continued to visit Aurora and began to heal.

One of her works at the exhibition, “Fuan no Umi,” (Ocean of anxiety), was drawn 15 years ago when her life seemed very dark. At the time she painted it, she was totally absorbed in the process but also felt she was drowning.

The images that stared back at her seemed to be asking, “How are you going to go on living?”

Yashiro has now overcome her eating disorders and is active as an artist. She is married and has a 4-year-old son.

She credits her well-being to having thrown all her anxiety and suffering into her paintings.

“By showing my works and my past, I want to be of some help to those who are now suffering,” Yashiro said.

FOUNDER ALSO TRIED TO END IT

Kato established Aurora in 1989. Art therapy uses art in counseling by looking into the psychological aspects of a work of art. Working on a piece of art is said to have the effect of venting and purifying repressed emotions.

The art exhibition running until Dec. 1 is being held to mark the 35th anniversary of Aurora’s founding.

Six people between the ages of 20 and 80 who have moved on in life because of the help they received from Aurora are displaying works.

Kato, who also has pieces on display, once attempted suicide.

Her only friend as a child was art. She still has a picture of an ogre she drew to represent someone who was bullying her. A large X is drawn over the ogre.

Turning to the works on display, Kato said, “They were all created while the artist was suffering and during the process of recovery. They all reflect the same energy, ‘I want to live’.”

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY

Yui Hiratsu, 28, repeatedly engaged in self-harm as a college student because she felt a huge gap in awareness with those around her and found it difficult to go on living.

The works she submitted for display were drawn with a single black ballpoint pen. One piece, titled “Ningen wo Yameta Hi” (The day I stopped being a human), depicts an individual extending a long tongue with an eyeball attached to it. “Bannin” (Guard) depicts an expressionless human crossing large hands in front of its body.

The self-harm gradually receded after Hiratsu realized that drawing provided an outlet for her negative emotions.

Ibuki Higashiyama is only 21 but has had a harried life: a drug overdose and three suicide attempts.

He is displaying a work drawn in senior high school based on a hallucination he had of a young girl wearing a white dress. While he thought the girl was pretty, in the work she is drawn with a strange green face and yellow eyes. It made Higashiyama realize the young girl was a scary force drawing him toward his death.

Since doing that piece, Higashiyama has not attempted suicide.

Having seen many people overcome their dark past through art in Aurora, Kato said, “I want to pass on through the artworks the fact that no one needs to die and that living is really incredible.”

The exhibition is being held at the Chuwa Gallery in Nihonbashi-honcho of Tokyo’s Chuo Ward. It is open from 12 p.m. until 7 p.m.