#semestertwo

I was fascinated by how people with disabilities or restricted movement could create art or use every day items. The use of prosthetics was a main focus of my work because I found the robotic nature fun and was interested in how they must feel to use because they're often very mechanical and there isn't enough research to make them move through natural means. I had hoped to investigate how to create works that reflected this restricted movement and people's opinion on these disabilities and movement in general.

I was led to a video essay I watched multiple times – How Media Scares Us: The Work of Junji Ito – in which the uncanny was mentioned, and that had given me very interesting insights about his work, such as the page turn, used to inflict fear utilising visuals and the aid of the media of comic books. I had decided upon that investigation for my research report, but as I dug deeper, I found myself reading about gothic motifs that directly related to my first and foremost inquiry: ghosts. I could have gone back to the start, but at the same time I was able to see just how both Ito’s manga and gothic literature (which I both love) have one thing in common for me to explore: the horror in the uncanny.

This article was a walkthrough of the most important gothic literature motifs. There are a lot of overlapping themes between gothic novels and they all have a historical or contextual reason to appear. That is the case of the locations in which stories take place; usually innocuous, isolated, haunted places. Being haunted is also a common theme, and it usually has to do with the clashing between the past and the present (or future). This relationship between time is why the ghost is such a recurring figure in gothic novels. The supernatural, although rejected by some gothic authors, was a way of conceding great power to characters and leaving other (usually the heroes or protagonists) as completely vulnerable. This power play is not limited to the supernatural, however, and it can be manifested through sexual power or perversity. Also, the elements of mystery and terror can also go beyond the unknown, bringing the concept of the uncanny into play, and introducing themes and characters who possess an eerie familiarity to them. At last, there is the sublime motif, which relates to the locations and the beauty that can be found in gothic culture in most unexpected, sometimes even dangerous of places, such as a thunderstorm.

The unheimlich, or the uncanny, is the link between these three texts. It is the feeling of unfamiliarity and dread that is used by author of gothic and/or horror literature. Here the author refers to the hidden aspects, something that lurks just beyond what we know and take as safe.

This text offers a few interpretations, and I find them all to be very cohesive, except for the one that offers a satirical approach to them. Even though this assumption was made by a Goya specialist, I do feel like satirical images wouldn’t be the choice for covering the walls of your house. I feel there was a yearning to extract emotion and to keep it around himself at all times, be surrounded by it. I can only think the paintings have an overwhelming sense of dread that wouldn’t be possible to achieve without intention.

Les Nuits Blanches (Sleepless Nights) by Sophie Lecuyer is a monotype series that deals with nocturnal apparitions. What's most interesting about them is, perhaps, the fact that the background isn't necessarily defined; they appear in the night rather than a physical place. With this, there is a more open perspective of the context in which these apparitions are. They aren't an object of fear because they aren't placed as such: there are no spectators to them except for the viewer. With this, again, there is no way to know where they fit into our world or if they do at all - the dimension in which they exist may be completely foreign. This uncertainty makes the work all the more interesting, as it creates an expanding dimension that isn't limited only to what we can understand. This specific image, especially, suggests a shift in dimension and form that is unique to a ghost or to an apparition that we can't quite grasp in the pre-defined concepts of our world. It goes beyond the idea of physicality, of life, suggesting that maybe this alternate dimension is, in fact, death itself.