Dream/Log
Early in 2023 I began a series of inkblot paintings as an exercise in communicating with my unconscious. In this zine I’ve paired them with small snippets of text from Carl G. Jung’s final work, “Man and His Symbols,” his only writing specifically aimed at a general audience.
People have found faces and entities in inkblots long before Rorschach tried to systemize them into a diagnostic “test” (which likely said more about him than it did about anyone else). Like automatic writing or ouija boards, working with inkblots is part play, part divination practice. I struggle with feelings. I like thoughts and words and grand ideas. For me, anything rooted in the body quickly becomes overwhelming and fraught. Speaking with one’s unconscious is difficult, because letting down one’s defenses is difficult. Inkblots are one method, dreams are another. According to Jung, every figure in a dream is a part of yourself: maybe a side you’ve been neglecting, maybe a side you need to be more curious about. Hiding in everyone’s shadow is a lot of gold. Sometimes seeing our good qualities is even harder than facing up to our bad.
This is a limited run zine, risograph printed by Studio Super & hand bound by me.
