Kintsugi as a metaphor for healing pandemic era loss

Clare McCarthy, ATR-BC, LCPC

“Perfect tea bowls are dull ones.” —Furuta Oribe

Kintsugi or “golden join” is an ancient Japanese art form in which broken pottery is repaired using lacquer mixed with precious metals. This technique, originating over 3000 years ago and flourishing in 16th and 17th century Japan, intentionally does not hide the story of the object’s damage. Instead, it subverts the ideal of invisible mending and challenges the stigma of repair. In this artistic tradition, the object’s flaws, chips, and seams point the way to a new integrated wholeness that accepts old losses and highlights the uniqueness and strength of mended breakages.  These golden seams enhance the beauty of the object, and are connected to the Zen-influenced wabi-sabi aesthetic that valued things that are old, worn and tinged with sadness.  

I believe that the concept of Kintsugi can function as a mental glue for scattered ideas about the self, and become an expressive metaphor for integrating the pain of the past year, and finding beauty in a new wholeness carefully pieced together with connective insights, patience, and focused intention. The story of a repair that dignifies the fractures and scars of the past is an apt story for the work of an integrated self in the era of pandemic recovery. We are now sorting through the shards of our pre-pandemic lives, integrating our ongoing pandemic experiences, and looking for a healing, “golden join”. Art therapy can offer rich metaphors and expressive outlets to help to recognize what we have been through and find the space and expressive freedom to find beauty in our brokenness, value in our sadness, and dignity in our losses. Through creativity and expressive arts psychotherapy we can work to craft our process of healing and put ourselves back together in a intentional, poetic, and honest way.

Reference:

Kintsugi: The Poetic Mend. Bonnie Kemske. Bloomsbury USA, 2021.