Our Internal Stories

BioGraffs is a visual narrative creation tool. I recently discovered Michael White and his work in narrative therapy, and realized how much it has to add to the work I've been doing with BioGraffs. One of the things he talks about is that there’s the landscape of identity and there's the landscape of action. In our lives, there's the things that happen, and that’s the landscape of action, and then there’s the landscape of identity which is how you interpret those things that happen. What does it mean? How do I feel about that? Why did it happen? Why did so and so say that?

I think it's really useful for people to take a look at issues in their lives by mapping out what the landscape of action and the landscape of meaning are in their stories, and see how they are woven together. To tease those two strands apart. And that is where the blocks come in.

Making a BioGraff is a way for people to get in touch with their stories. Stories in your life that you have discounted, that could be stories that shape your identity and shape who you see yourself as. You haven't woven them into the tapestry of your life, you didn't make a frame for that story, but the story is still there and available to you. You can look back at your life and highlight different frames to tell different stories to yourself. This is one of the things that a narrative therapist helps people do, and BioGraffs is a way to help too.