Aduma Adan — Processing Trauma in Black Bodies

Why we need to process every trauma

Thinking is a chemical process

One of the uniquenesses of our human ability is that we can learn to recognise that trauma, once experienced, has a lasting impact on our mental and physical health — until we decide to take control.

Processing trauma

Trauma is not only what happened to you; it is what your body kept. Every unprocessed experience leaves a chemical residue — in the bloodstream, in posture, in the way you brace for a room before you enter it.

Processing trauma is the practice of turning towards those residues instead of away from them. It looks like naming, witnessing, externalising — and, in Aduma Adan, it looks like art.

Three doors in

  1. Read. The Weight We Carry — a short illustrated tale of trauma in Black bodies.
  2. Sit with the work. Visit the gallery or step into a therapeutic space.
  3. Come to a clinic. Our monthly trauma clinic is a healing art workshop designed for exactly this.