Date of Award
Spring 5-23-2021
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Art
Advisor(s)
Van Aken, Sam
Second Advisor
Wysocki, Robert
Keywords
Art Therapy, Depersonalization, Derealization, Dissociation, Liminality, Sculpture
Subject Categories
Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts | Medicine and Health Sciences | Psychiatry and Psychology
Abstract
I am fascinated by the state of being in-between; by the mental spaces that are somehow neither here nor there, but also somehow both here and there. At a young age, I began to experience depersonalization and derealization, and this dissociated state left me feeling trapped somewhere on the threshold of reality and non-reality. My artistic practice is concerned with the psychological antitheses of dissociation – comfort vs discomfort, safety vs danger, and reality vs non-reality, and the continuum of space between these polarities. Often through large-scale installations, I create a physical space for the viewer to enter. These spaces, like that of the mental state of dissociation, have an uncertainty about them. They are simultaneously comfortable and uncomfortable. The objective of this thesis paper is to look back on my experiences living on this threshold and examine my resulting artistic practice that works to make sense of it all.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Virag, Katherine, "Reflections From the in-between: Visualizing the Mental Thresholds of Dissociation" (2021). Theses - ALL. 549.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/549
