There are several good reasons an artist might want to become a therapist. One is that the practices involve many of the same skills: soul-searching, analyzing, and embracing complexities of life that cannot be easily resolved. Another is the flexible, part-time-friendly yet steady nature of seeing patients, which nicely complements the routine of an artist.To discuss the convergences and challenges related to balancing two practices, a nomadic group of artist-therapists convenes as part of curator Prem Krishnamurthy’s ongoing project “Department of Transformation,” an amorphous group centered on healing and transformation. Is the crossover a growing trend, especially as both the size of the art world and the cost of living balloon, and as the taboo around discussing both mental health and day jobs shrinks? Or is it simply that artists are speaking more openly about side hustles than ever before?For certain, ours is not the first time artists have bridged the disciplines of art and therapy. The Brazilian artist Lygia Clark practiced both, regularly foregrounding art’s therapeutic potential. Louise Bourgeois was a voracious student of psychoanalysis. And Meret Oppenheim was a patient of Carl Jung himself. It also seems notable that, these days, a good number of artist-therapists are photographers: in addition to the photographers included below, Elad Lassry and Leigh Ledare have made the jump, leaving one to wonder if the two fields share certain impulses. To learn more about that and other motivations, A.i.A. talked to four artists about how their practices as both artist and therapist relate.