Keskustelua kuvassa? Viiva ja väri vuorovaikutuksellisena toimintana

Abstract

This paper discusses visual art in the context of a project for aphatic people and their family members. The project was carried out to enhance the participants’ capability for artistic expression and especially to enable them to experience visual art as a means of interaction in two different settings. In the first case, the interaction was realized through the artistic effort of individual participants working with visual material that functioned as a starting point for their work. In the second case, the artistic effort was shared interactively by two participants, primarily in a linguistically asymmetrical setting where one participant's linguistic competence was weakened due to a stroke followed by aphasia. The art worksare discussed here from the artistic and philosophical points of view, revealing possible interactional elements and meanings. Moreover, based on the observed artistic inspiration and findings, the article discusses the possibilities and implications of visual art in aphasia therapy, focusing on some linguistic aspects and the nature of visual and pictorial elements. Finally, directions for further research are outlined for a better insight of the phenomenon of visual intersubjectivity in this special setting, thus opening new paths for research concerning visual art, linguistics, and aphasia.