Why I’m not where I am; a conversation amid beast and being.

Fine Art Digital Archival Print

2016

300mm x 1200 mm

Melbourne

Why do humans wreak destruction in their own lives? How can the individual observe beauty and truth, yet surrender to self loathing and desolation. This project aims to respond to these questions, generating an investigation from a personal position into the struggle between self destruction and self preservation.

Herman Hesse’s novel “The Steppenwolf” features themes that correspond with the concepts that are addressed in this work. Hesse’s writing perceives the battle between man and wolf, life and death, self deprecation and self actualisation.

This work is constructed through a series of self portraits captured through double exposures. The use of layers, mirrors and multiple exposures corresponds with human emotion and highlights the juxtaposition between ego and humility. “Thus, like a precious, fleeting foam over the sea of suffering arise all works of art.” (Hesse 1927, p. 55).