Letting the Image Speak: Witnessing Your Art

In visual journaling, there is a subtle but powerful shift that can happen when we stop explaining our art. This practice—often described as letting your image speak—invites a deeper way of listening to your art, in other words "witnessing".

Witnessing your art means allowing what you’ve created—an image, a collage, a mark on the page—to speak to you rather than about you. Instead of analyzing, fixing, or judging what you made, you pause and listen. You notice. You stay curious. You allow meaning to emerge rather than forcing it.

This may sound simple, but it can be deeply transformative.

Letting Your Image Speak: Witnessing to Your Art

When we witness our art, we relate to it as if it has its own voice or presence. We might imagine the image speaking in the first person. We might ask it questions. We might notice what draws our attention or how we feel as we look at it. Sometimes, we simply sit quietly and observe.

This is different from interpretation. Interpretation often comes from the thinking mind and seeks answers. Witnessing comes from presence and allows understanding to unfold over time.

In this way, the image becomes a bridge—a way of hearing something that already lives within us but has not yet found words.

Why This Matters

Many of us are used to processing life internally. We think, analyze, replay, and try to make sense of our experiences inside our own heads. When everything stays internal, it’s easy to get caught in familiar loops—old narratives, self-judgment, or assumptions that feel true but may be incomplete.

Visual journaling gives shape to our internal world. When what we carry inside us is placed on the page, we gain meaningful distance from it. This distance allows us to be in relationship with our experience rather than overwhelmed by it. Through witnessing, we become open to new perspective—listening with curiosity and compassion rather than remaining caught in subjectivity.

A Voice Outside of You… That Is Still Yours

One of the paradoxes of visual journaling is this:

When you allow your art to speak, you are hearing a voice outside of yourself—and it is still your voice.

Not the voice of logic or expectation.

Not the voice of what you “should” feel or know.

But a quieter, often wiser voice that comes from lived experience and the deeper self.

Some people call this intuition. Others call it inner wisdom, the authentic self, soul essence, or a spiritual voice. There is no single right language for it. What matters is that the art gives this voice a place to land.

When we witness our art rather than judge it, we create space for insight to arise naturally.

How I Invite This Practice (An Example)

Below is one way to practice witnessing through visual journaling.

You only need a willingness to pause, allow space to listen, and be the witness to your art. There is no need to force meaning or rush understanding. Often, insight arrives when we stop chasing it.

Create a Visual Journal Page

Examples include drawing, painting, collage, or any visual form that feels accessible to you.

After creating your image:

• Take a moment to simply look at your art.

• Write down what you notice—colors, shapes, movement, tension, stillness, or anything that stands out.

• Gently dialogue with the image by asking: What do you want me to know?

• Write what you sense the image is offering, without censoring, correcting, or trying to make it “sound right.”

• Optional: If there are objects, figures, or symbols within the image, you might write from their perspective—as if each one has a voice. Notice what stands out most to you and focus there.

When you’re finished, give the artwork a title and date it.

I recommend keeping this process private. Visual journaling can reveal personal insights, and sharing them before you’re ready can invite interpretation or judgment that may interfere with your own understanding. Holding this process for yourself can support safety, clarity, and self-trust.

A Final Reminder

You do not need to be an artist to engage in visual journaling. This practice is not about skill, talent, or creating something “good.” It is about curiosity, presence, and allowing images to support insight, healing, and personal growth—one page at a time.