unpacking the concept

Synaesthesia is the neurological condition where more or one of the senses come into play to create one overarching sensation. I have chosen to unpack this concept with a focus on the idea of what is real in the context of the psychological; specifically, the psychological state when the soul and the body separate at death, or if they do at all.

I have been heavily influenced by the work of Sonya Peters, an Australian artist who explores the soul in the absence of the conscious; in death and in sleep. She often uses the zoological symbolism of the bird as an earthly link between the heaven and physical world, which I have chosen to emulate. In terms of subject matter, I have used similar subjects to Marian Drew and Bill Henson, whose personal aesthetic I have identified with and tried to emulate.

Looking at sources like the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the novel 21 Grams, I examined the exact moment in which the soul leaves the body. 21 Grams explored this question from both a scientific and Christian-centric theological standpoint, which is where I first formed the ideas surrounding my focus. This was then honed in on when I discovered The Book of the Dead and learned about the concept of the bardo; the phases of death the soul goes through to be reborn. This reminded me of something I had identified as a child – the superstate, a superconsciousness associated with death. The superconsciousness, in my mind, cannot operate when the brain and body are in place, and these forces are controlling soul.

The series is trying to explore the void between what is real and what isn’t; a void that is most commonly referred to in the context of death, in that period when we are neither alive or death. I do not believe that death happens instantaneously, but over a period of time.

I have used, predominantly, the symbols of birds and water; two things that (funnily enough) I was scared of upon starting this project. The bird, the soul carrier, has always seemed like an ominous creature to me, but after meeting Sonya Peters, birds were given new life to me (no pun intended) and now I love birds. Water, a cleansing force in both a religious and practical sense, has frightened me too, but I employed it as a metaphor for the void. I was scared, but now I am less so, which is strange. I would think that making these symbols synonymous with death would make me more scared of them.

I would like to display the pictures I have taken as straight images, to make them plain and simple and easy to understand. I have ideas for a film, which I plan to record this week sometime. I would have that up on a screen, large, with the sound from it filling the room.