Nyctophobia
Fabric, wire, batting
Installation: 250 cm x 240 cm x 145 cm
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Nyctophobia is an extreme fear of the dark, where evil waits in the shadows of the imagination, intensified by agnosia, the inability to recognise objects through sensorial encounters. This artwork emanates personal fears consequential to the imprint of childhood traumas. Bessel Van der Kolk explains how trauma leaves an imprint on the body that darkens over time as the monster repeatedly returns, triggering traumatic events through images, smells, sounds and touch. Fear onset agnosia resides in the darkness, obscuring the truth that threads our nerves to a silent hysteria.
Sculptural creatures become the silent forest as the installation embodies abject fears in the human imagination. Through the process of Klecksography, I use the Rorschach Inkblot print to create critters on fabric using acrylic paint and sewing as a vehicle to symbolise embodiment. The dark forest becomes a metaphor as I withdraw and subtract language that interprets and signifies fear in a deep emotional space within the psyche. I use the power of the Inkblot that allows the audience to respond to the stimuli of the invisible monster that provokes deep emotions as the spectator looks above, within and below the surface of the mind that highlight hidden truths.
Monsters are ambiguous creatures that hide in the dark. They crack the borders of one’s reality and turn our external world inside out, immersing one in the midst of fear, wonder, terror and chaos in an organised mind, especially in traumatised humans who are recovering from posttraumatic stress.
Gallery
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