As a humanistic psychologist, I believe that we can come to a greater understanding of ourselves through arts (e.g., poems, paintings, dance, photography).

Indeed, our interpretation as well as our emotional experience in front of a work of art will differ from one person to another. Interpreting is not simply an intellectual experience, but also a deeply emotional and subjective one. Hence, the way we influence and are influenced by a work of art speaks to us about our subjectivity and our unicity.

In parallel of my main lines of research surrounding aging, end-of-life and dying, I also explore these themes via hermeneutical and phenomenological analyses of arts.

Resulting Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles

  1. Girard, D., & Bourgeois-Guérin, V. (2022). Hope and Suffering: a Hermeneutical and Existential Analysis of Akhmatova’s Requiem. The Humanistic Psychologist. 55 (1), 55-69. https://doi.org/10.1037/hum0000178

Oral Presentations

  1. Girard, D., van Zutven, M.A.M., van Wijngaarden, E. (2023, August). Dying in the Margins a Hermeneutical Reflection on Liminality and Paradoxes. The 40th Annual International Human Science Research Conference. Tokyo, Japan.
  2. Girard, D., & Bourgeois-Guérin, V. (2020, May). Dialogue Between the Poetics of Aging in Edvard Munch’s Art and Critical Gerontology. The 39th Annual International Human Science Research Conference. New York, United States. Canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
  3. Girard, D., & Bourgeois-Guérin, V. (2019, June). The Poetry of Anna Akhmatova : A Meditation on Hope and Suffering. The 38th Annual International Human Science Research Conference. Molde, Norway.
    • Travel Award for International Conference from the Faculty of Human Sciences, UQAM – 700$CAN