Chocolate Therapy

Chocolate Therapy is rooted in an embodied and durational practice centered on therapeutic action that impacts both the participants and the maker. 

Chocolate Therapy, chocolate foils, wheat-paste, storytelling, homemade organic chocolate, and chocolate syrup, Vancouver, 2014

Initially I collected chocolate foil wrappers from 5 months in a new city where the consumption of chocolate provided an emotional support. Then, over the course of a few weeks, I wheat-pasted these foils during walks to and from the hospital where a loved one in an acute state of anorexia nervosa resided. 

As an experimental response to the documentation of this repeated action, I made organic fair-trade chocolate to share with a small group. These chocolates were individually wrapped in my left-over saved chocolate foils, which were first screen-printed using chocolate syrup to create a map loosely marking the location of the foils I wheat-pasted during my walks. A short and significant storytelling of my actions preceded the distribution of the chocolate. 

The durational aspect of Chocolate Therapy comes alive in the participants’ action to either use the map on their chocolate wrapper to locate the pasted foils, use the wrapper as their own foil to paste, or simply enjoy the embodied experience and medicinal effects of chocolate as a stress reliever and heart-opener.