LAYERS OF
SELF-DECEPTION
LAYERS OF
SELF-DECEPTION
the censored chapter of our lives
the censored chapter of our lives
MA FINE ART
Research Proposal
MA FINE ART
Research Proposal
I wouldn't be interested in doing what I know
I can do or what I have done before.
I want to be both the spectator and the artist.
I have to be surprised myself, otherwise it will be just another manipulation of art in whatever form.
I wouldn't be interested in doing what I know
I can do or what I have done before.
I want to be both the spectator and the artist.
I have to be surprised myself, otherwise it will be just another manipulation of art in whatever form.
“With all that which a person allows to appear one may ask: what is meant to hide? What about it divert the eyes from? How far does he deceive himself in his action?” --- F. Nietzsche, The Dawn
“With all that which a person allows to appear one may ask: what is meant to hide? What about it divert the eyes from? How far does he deceive himself in his action?” --- F. Nietzsche, The Dawn
Our subjective experiences are not always straightforwardly and transparently self-consistent.
Self-deception is very human, and we are inclined to deceive ourselves because our tendency is to try to deny and escape from what we don’t want to admit. But mostly, we lie to ourselves because we want to be a certain way.
The discussion of self-deception is more than just another intricate subject of philosophy. It is an existential concern, morally problematic, that is making us strangers to ourselves. It affects our behaviour to the extent of becoming an obstacle to self-knowledge.
Every aspect of self-deception, starting with the definition is a matter of controversy. What are the thought processes that lead us to self-deception?
My work questions the relationship with the self which is arguably the most important. It is the foundation of our character and reveals how we interact with the world.
Our subjective experiences are not always straightforwardly and transparently self-consistent.
Self-deception is very human, and we are inclined to deceive ourselves because our tendency is to try to deny and escape from what we don’t want to admit. But mostly, we lie to ourselves because we want to be a certain way.
The discussion of self-deception is more than just another intricate subject of philosophy. It is an existential concern, morally problematic, that is making us strangers to ourselves. It affects our behaviour to the extent of becoming an obstacle to self-knowledge.
Every aspect of self-deception, starting with the definition is a matter of controversy. What are the thought processes that lead us to self-deception?
My work questions the relationship with the self which is arguably the most important. It is the foundation of our character and reveals how we interact with the world.
SUBJECT AREA
Exploring new channels of visual expressions of the identity.
My main area of investigation is the complex interaction between art and human behaviour, perception, and aesthetic appearances. My study focuses on the projected image, the perfect picture – opposed to the inner gestural, kinaesthetic image. I am interested, in visual terms, about the split of the unconscious mind, a kind of intrinsic research an experimentation, an alchemy of the soul.
My work looks at our relationship with self in the context of a society which is also concerned about who we are as human beings and how we interact with each other.
Art offers a place where we can think about our thought processes. It extends a self-reflexivity where we are constantly questioning, not just moving through life accepting things, using the same masks or avatars of deception. How can we become better versions of ourselves? I want to ask vivid questions about the significance of deconstruction and reconstruction of ourselves.
The aim of the project
Self-deception is such a common theme yet so profound and tremendously difficult to grasp and unfold.
My ambition is to open a visual discourse and widen a possible inner debate around my area of investigation and to develop an awareness, conceivably to be scratched of all layers and find the gold beneath.
The aim of the project is to investigate and substantiate the importance of an inner dialogue. To hold up the seven Essene mirrors that might help define the true self or at least certain aspects otherwise ignored or repressed. To deconstruct and reconstruct the self in terms of understanding the ingredients, or the pieces that makes us who we are, and put them back together improved, enhanced and substantially more aware of the true resonance of ourselves.
Objectives
- To collect and classify relevant information about self-reflexivity and inner dialogue through research and experimentation.
- To devise a method of producing a stream-of-consciousness outcome using the narrative techniques of interior monologue.
- To develop a method of approach, through experimentation using disparate fragments of text and narrative, colours, and textures, in a dialogue with one another for the purpose of producing the relevant visual discourse.
SUBJECT AREA
Exploring new channels of visual expressions of the identity.
My main area of investigation is the complex interaction between art and human behaviour, perception, and aesthetic appearances. My study focuses on the projected image, the perfect picture – opposed to the inner gestural, kinaesthetic image. I am interested, in visual terms, about the split of the unconscious mind, a kind of intrinsic research an experimentation, an alchemy of the soul.
My work looks at our relationship with self in the context of a society which is also concerned about who we are as human beings and how we interact with each other.
Art offers a place where we can think about our thought processes. It extends a self-reflexivity where we are constantly questioning, not just moving through life accepting things, using the same masks or avatars of deception. How can we become better versions of ourselves? I want to ask vivid questions about the significance of deconstruction and reconstruction of ourselves.
The aim of the project
Self-deception is such a common theme yet so profound and tremendously difficult to grasp and unfold.
My ambition is to open a visual discourse and widen a possible inner debate around my area of investigation and to develop an awareness, conceivably to be scratched of all layers and find the gold beneath.
The aim of the project is to investigate and substantiate the importance of an inner dialogue. To hold up the seven Essene mirrors that might help define the true self or at least certain aspects otherwise ignored or repressed. To deconstruct and reconstruct the self in terms of understanding the ingredients, or the pieces that makes us who we are, and put them back together improved, enhanced and substantially more aware of the true resonance of ourselves.
Objectives
- To collect and classify relevant information about self-reflexivity and inner dialogue through research and experimentation.
- To devise a method of producing a stream-of-consciousness outcome using the narrative techniques of interior monologue.
- To develop a method of approach, through experimentation using disparate fragments of text and narrative, colours, and textures, in a dialogue with one another for the purpose of producing the relevant visual discourse.
The film burns on the face of Bibi Andersson.
© auralcrave.com (Mattia Bonasia, Ingmar Bergman’s Persona: The Soul and the Mask, cinema as a theatre)
The film burns on the face of Bibi Andersson.
© auralcrave.com (Mattia Bonasia, Ingmar Bergman’s Persona: The Soul and the Mask, cinema as a theatre)
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Ideas and concepts
What define us? What makes us who we are? According to C.G. Jung, the Persona represents the social mask that each of us wear in our social interactions with others in society – the personality that we try to portray to others.
In this regard, my interest grows to research the amalgamation of our being, and the expansion of self to the interpretation of the whole concept. But how can one confront the unconscious? How can we truly know ourselves?
Both Sigmund Freud and Carl C.G. Jung referred to the unconscious as having the most important role in personality and behaviour. Expanding Freud’s idea of personal unconscious, C.G. Jung included in the human psyche three other components: the shadow, the sexual archetype, designated as anima (men) and animus (women) and the collective unconscious, the latter believed to be a unique component that contains all the knowledge and experience that humans collectively share.
Another question we often pounder is What is our purpose? or more generic What is the purpose of life? Jung believed that most of our sufferings come from the distress of the human psyche. To start looking for answers we must first go back to the ancient temple of Apollo in Delphi on which forecourt was inscribed “Know thyself”. In Plato’s Phaedo Dialogues, Socrates explains that wisdom can only be attained after death for is only then the mind (the psyche) is liberated from the distractions of the body. Therefore, Socrates argues for the immortality of the soul. Yet, in another platonic interpretation “knowing thyself” is a matter of freeing from the allegorical cave and crawling into the light of genuine knowledge. From Nietzsche’s perspective one must recognize and embrace individuality, own unique perspectives, and creatively define oneself.
Regardless of the many interpretations of the “self” when we begin the inner dialogue, we take a step forward in becoming the better – authentic – versions of ourselves, overcoming the identity crises through decompression of inflicted boundaries and breaking up the stereotypes imposed by society, education, and cultural frames.
One of the most explicit portrait and visual narrative of C.G. Jung’s archetypes is Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1966) and although as an art film is open to interpretation, it is cultivating a mindful awareness of the C.G. Jungian core concepts.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Ideas and concepts
What define us? What makes us who we are? According to C.G. Jung, the Persona represents the social mask that each of us wear in our social interactions with others in society – the personality that we try to portray to others.
In this regard, my interest grows to research the amalgamation of our being, and the expansion of self to the interpretation of the whole concept. But how can one confront the unconscious? How can we truly know ourselves?
Both Sigmund Freud and Carl C.G. Jung referred to the unconscious as having the most important role in personality and behaviour. Expanding Freud’s idea of personal unconscious, C.G. Jung included in the human psyche three other components: the shadow, the sexual archetype, designated as anima (men) and animus (women) and the collective unconscious, the latter believed to be a unique component that contains all the knowledge and experience that humans collectively share.
Another question we often pounder is What is our purpose? or more generic What is the purpose of life? Jung believed that most of our sufferings come from the distress of the human psyche. To start looking for answers we must first go back to the ancient temple of Apollo in Delphi on which forecourt was inscribed “Know thyself”. In Plato’s Phaedo Dialogues, Socrates explains that wisdom can only be attained after death for is only then the mind (the psyche) is liberated from the distractions of the body. Therefore, Socrates argues for the immortality of the soul. Yet, in another platonic interpretation “knowing thyself” is a matter of freeing from the allegorical cave and crawling into the light of genuine knowledge. From Nietzsche’s perspective one must recognize and embrace individuality, own unique perspectives, and creatively define oneself.
Regardless of the many interpretations of the “self” when we begin the inner dialogue, we take a step forward in becoming the better – authentic – versions of ourselves, overcoming the identity crises through decompression of inflicted boundaries and breaking up the stereotypes imposed by society, education, and cultural frames.
One of the most explicit portrait and visual narrative of C.G. Jung’s archetypes is Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1966) and although as an art film is open to interpretation, it is cultivating a mindful awareness of the C.G. Jungian core concepts.
Alchemy - AS ABOVE SO BELOW
“First we bring together, then we putrefy, we break down what has been putrefied, we purify the divided, we unite the purified and harden it. In this way is One made from man and woman”
-- Hermes Trismegistus
In reference to the divine work of creation and the plan of salvation within it, the alchemist process was called the “Great Work”. In it, a mysterious chaotic source material called materia prima, containing the opposites still incompatible and in the most violent conflict, is gradually guided towards a redeemed state of perfect harmony, the healing “Philosophers’ Stone” or lapis philosophorum.
Sic mundus creatus est
That's how the world was created
Ouroborus is an ancient animal similar to a snake or dragon swallowing his tail by forming a circle with his body. Mostly he symbolises the primordial unity, the endless cycle of time and the universe.
Plato describes it as a being devouring itself, the first living universe. "It was immortal and shaped like a circle, a perfectly constructed animal."
Black and red represent the duality of nature and of all things and the fact that opposing forces are not in conflict, on the contrary, they harmonise and complement themselves.
This substance is the father of the whole perfection of the whole universe.
This substance is the power of any power, for it defeats any of the finest things, and it penetrates through it all.
Alchemy Series, 2018
mixed media/acrylic on canvas
45 x 60 cm (each)
