Artist-researcher • Art Psychotherapist • Creative Professional • Educator

Shawna’s artistic life began in theater in Winnipeg, before photography became her medium of choice. This led to a degree in Communications, and between 2002–2021 she worked as a multidisciplinary freelancer across web and visual design, creative direction, and photography.

In 2008, she moved to Mexico City with her son. Soon after settling in, she co-founded Casa de Artes y Circo Contemporáneo and spent ten years helping to develop the center. Her work there focused primarily on art education and community development.

Her interest in the role of arts in health eventually led her toward clinical training: an MSc in Body Psychology and Body Psychotherapy (University of East London), and advanced training in Art Psychotherapy with the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy where she later taught (2022). More recently, she presented at UNAM’s Art and Mental Health Symposium (2024).

A late AuDHD (Autism + ADHD) diagnosis, and years spent adapting to systems not built for a neurodivergent way of being, sharpened her attention to internal states, relational dynamics, and how pacing and environment shape human experience.