The Hopeful Monsters Project

Through processes of self-reflection, students design and build soft sculptures (similar to stuffed animals) that anthropomorphize character traits, personal issues, or external stressors that they see as being problematic. In other words, participants take an aspect of themselves that they struggle with and create a creature out of it. By personifying our “monsters” (dragging our personal demons into the light of day) we have the opportunity to see them in a new light, gain a better understanding of them, and perhaps make peace with them in some way.

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Linus Lancaster and I have been running Hopeful Monsters since 2019.  Between the two of us, we have shared this project with over 500 students, in four schools, between grades 3 and 12. As educators, it is motivated by our awareness of increasing levels of trauma, depression, and anxiety among our students, and the question of whether we can teach, or facilitate greater levels of empathy and compassion in a school setting as a way to help address them. It explores the ways in which emotional challenges and personal suffering can interfere with feeling compassion for others or for one's self.

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Linus and I published a chapter on this topic in the book "Cultivating Compassion: Going Beyond Crises" by Shi, Hill & Franzway, 2024.

 

Special thanks to Sasha Lyth, who inspired this project through her "Ugly Monsters" project.

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Please reach out if you'd like to experience Hopeful Monsters with your group, whether adults or young people.