This thesis thoroughly explores the potential of using artistic practice as a research-basedapproach to facilitate positive experiences and engage with traumatic memories. It is firmly
grounded in the five stages of grief outlined by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in “On Death and
Dying”: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The project constructs a
non-linear narrative around the traumatic memory of losing a loved one to violence. The
central research question investigates how imaginal exposure techniques using aesthetics in
mixed-media design can aid individuals with traumatic memories of grief. The research
draws on Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy techniques, focusing on in vivo and imaginal
exposure methods. These techniques involve confronting traumatic memories to reduce
associated fears and anxieties through staged encounters and narrative rescripting
experiments. Imaginal exposure primarily extracts memories through verbal interactions,
which inspired the creation of a mind map that encapsulated these memories’ mental,
physical, and virtual environments. By utilizing an autoethnographic lens, the research
meticulously maps these emotions and translates them into a mixed-media art framework,
reflecting the abstract, fragmented, and overlapping nature of mental imagery. This process
aims to build on extracting a cathartic and transformative healing journey through art. The
findings highlight limitations in this method related to language, memory complexity, and the
elusive nature of memory formation and their temporal perceptions. The PaR
autoethnographic approach suggests that PE therapies can benefit from evolving with new
technologies and frameworks taught to people undergoing treatment. This adaptation to
existing therapies could enhance the discovery, design process, and narrative articulation,
offering individuals a means of expressing and communicating their contained recollections
of personal experiences.