'Drift', 2022
This project explores my attempts to harness the vast visual potential of the subconscious through dreams. It expands on the research I have undertaken in the spheres of film, text, art and documentation to strive towards a better understanding of the ways in which our experiences manifest themselves through dreamscapes.
Initial Explorations
While I enjoyed this part of the process initially, creating loose sketches and unfinished pieces, the process of ‘polishing’ these illustrations made them turn stale. I felt a strong lack of colour and personality and the story began to slip away from me altogether. More importantly, it required context to hold it together and make it more powerful, which I could not identify at this stage.
Process
As with any period of solitude, this time was marked by extensive self-reflection of my own thoughts and subsequently the dreams that I had so diligently documented. In many ways, I became less passive about my own existence, and began to treat myself more as a character to study and draw ideas from. As a result, I began to create several self-portraits in which I made a conscious attempt to avoid portraying ‘prettiness’ and favouring vulnerability and sincerity. In doing so, my aim was to bring that sincere depiction into my ongoing practice.
As with any period of solitude, this time was marked by extensive self-reflection of my own thoughts and subsequently the dreams that I had so diligently documented. In many ways, I became less passive about my own existence, and began to treat myself more as a character to study and draw ideas from. As a result, I began to create several self-portraits in which I made a conscious attempt to avoid portraying ‘prettiness’ and favouring vulnerability and sincerity. In doing so, my aim was to bring that sincere depiction into my ongoing practice.
I then carried this practice into digitally created pieces which depicted the five dreams I had remembered and documented over this time. Using myself as reference, I placed myself back into my dreamscapes and outside the confines of my room. Each illustration depicted a different dream and manifestation of my fears, eventually coming together to form a visual essay of my time in isolation.
My decision to work in a digital format was primarily rooted in the freedom that the medium allows to explore textures, colours and digital manipulations post-making. However, I also strongly felt the need to incorporate my lino explorations as the process had not only become emblematic of that time, but also lent the piece as a whole more room for interpretation, given their abstract nature. I eventually interspersed the illustrations with digitally manipulated lino prints, which represented the ‘forgotten dreams’.
After receiving feedback, however, I realised that although I was attached to the lino pieces for what they represented, they were not adding to the collection as a whole and felt disparate. I decided against depicting the ‘forgotten’ dreams altogether, and instead used the subtle patterns from the lino in the illustrations themselves, giving them added texture and a sense of ephemeral movement. In letting go of a part of the process that I was attached to, I was able to work towards a stronger finished piece.
The final visual essay will be displayed in the form of a zine called ‘Drift’, which encapsulates my time in isolation through my subconscious excursions outside the confines of my bedroom. In some ways, I like to think of the piece as a collection of essays or short stories. Each piece represents a different dreams and a different manifestation of thought, imploring to user to form their own interpretation of dream symbols.
Outcome
‘DRIFT’ is an illustrated documentation of a week of isolation through the medium of dreams, consisting of visceral renditions of self-reflection. It strives to capture the essence of seclusion through the artist’s subconcious excursions outside the confines of their bedroom. Each individual illustration symbolises a single dream, and with it a distinctive manifestation of thought, imploring the viewer to form their own interpretations of both typical and peculiar dream symbolism.
Medium: Digital and Lino Print
Size: A5
Losing Teeth
Falling
Melt
Barbet
Mother
The journey of ‘Drift’ has given me the opportunity to study, explore and create from a theme which has always captivated me. My explorations have been as challenging as they have been rewarding, and have emboldened me to take risks and move outside of my preconceived notions of image-making.
