The Woman, the War and The Rose

The Psychoanalytic task shares some emotional elements with certain works of art. We present a conversation on art and psychoanalysis as a means to work through the irreparable damage that violence causes to victims of war and their following generations.

In a rich and thought-provoking paper, the psychoanalyst Constanza Aranguren explores the links between the two: The aesthetic (re) presentation of the victims’ pain becomes the starting point to bring some psychoanalytic ideas about trauma, repetition and mourning into this conversation. Constanza will consider the repercussions of war crimes for the development of thought. Finally, Winnicott´s definition of The Woman as a primitive mental object will be used to think about the damage caused by war in our capacity to recognise and accept our fragility and vulnerability.

Dr Anuradha Menon will respond with a discussion paper. The conversation will continue in the Panel, and the audience will be invited by the Panel Chair, Dr Qadri, to participate and ask questions.

Constanza Aranguren is a Psychoanalyst and Fellow of the Colombian Psychoanalytical Society. She is a guest member of the British Psychoanalytical Society, Member of the Scottish association of psychoanalytic psychotherapists (SAAP). She lectures widely in South America and Europe and worked as the official Translator for the Spanish Version of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis.

Anuradha Menon is a Psychoanalyst and Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. She also works in the NHS as a Consultant in Liaison psychiatry and Medical psychotherapy and has a private analytic practice in Leeds.

Mohammed Qadri is a Consultant in Forensic psychiatry and Medical Psychotherapy in the Humber Centre, Hull and York NHS Trust.

Event Image: Jesus Abad Colorado. A gaze at a life profound.