The current state of the world
The world is once again going through immense change and disruption: from the global pandemic and the disproportionate impact on poorer nations and classes to the murder of George Floyd and the return to prominence of the fight for racial equality; from the urgent fight for the rights of women highlighted by the reversal of Roe vs Wade in the US, the recent killings of Mahsa Amini and many more children, women, and men by the theocracy in Iran, and the young women recently denied access to their universities in Afghanistan to the World Cup highlighting the alarming lack of LGBTQ + rights and shocking labour practices towards migrant workers in some regions; and UNICEF announcing that 1 in 10 children worldwide continue to be denied basic rights due to disabilities (UNICEF, Citation2021). These snapshots from the past few years indicate just some of the landmarks within a much bigger problem of marginalisation and give us a glimpse of the ongoing fights for the rights of us all within the varying intersectional systems of oppression (patriarchy, white supremacy, capitalism, etc.). These flashpoints show just how much we are moulded by the socio-political as much as the psychological.
Calling for the art therapy profession to respond
The art therapy professional, like many other professions, is now being called upon to take a moment to look up, become more responsive to the socio-political contexts we are all living in, and provide more culturally responsive and relevant services. To highlight the importance of responsive, relevant and anti-oppressive practices, three art therapy journals are collaborating internationally to publish sister special issues including a diverse group of authors, peer reviewers, associate editors and editors with a broad range of lived and professional experiences: the Canadian Journal of Art Therapy is highlighting anti-colonialism and re-indigenization within art therapy; Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association is focusing on cultural humility in art therapy; and here, at the International Journal of Art Therapy, we are foregrounding intersectionality as a theoretical framework for art therapy. (author introduction)
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