Project Abstract

Escapism, or the tendency to divert the mind into an imaginative environment to remove oneself from reality, is a topic frequently touched on by artists who are interested in the unconscious mind and its hidden messages intended for the conscious mind to someday solve. I am not a troubled child, an individual with a traumatic past, or somebody struggling with a mental illness. Yet with all the positivity that surrounds me, I frequently find myself having vivid daydreams or moments that border close to tendencies found in maladaptive daydreaming. The experiences I have with my daydreams and dreams are never just within my mind but are more of a full-body experience where I may, at times, move my body as if it were reacting to a situation or feel certain sensations typically associated with ASMR. Rather than past ideas revolving around recorded visuals in personal journals, I am more interested in presenting imagery of these sensations teetering between dreams and reality; moments that come about randomly when my mind begins to wander and escape everyday life.

 

In Escapism: Connecting Dreams to Reality, each piece discusses the phases of transitioning from a conscious state to a dream state. A conscious body slowly breaks down into fleeting tingles in Dissection, shedding its skin in the Red Room after each dream. Traveling between the conscious and the unconscious occurs by landing on various waves, similar to a television, in Frequency. Illustrations in Dream Stickers are collections of the visuals and feelings that repeatedly appear in my dreams from a young age.