Claire Brogan
ARTIST | EDUCATOR
Artist Statement
""The Mind""
I am interested in the Psychology work of “Carl Jung” and “Sigmund Freud” and in particular their beliefs and theories regarding the unconscious mind which leads to my interest surrounding dreams. According to “Jung” the unconscious mind is a “Shadow” of a real conscious mind and any dream that is portrayed is a message from our unconscious. Whereas Freud believed “dreams where forbidden wishes that had to be disguised”. In terms of research, I gather and analyse dreams from friends and undertook Jung’s process of interpreting dreams. The dreams are represented through light and movement and juxtaposition .
1.Write down the dreams in detail, 2. Make associations , 3. Connect Dream Images to what’s happening internally ,4. Interpret the dream
The dazzling orange streetlights of Strokestown is a light that I symbolize with home . This orange light provides me with a nostalgic feeling of familiarity and warmth but although night-time is associated with relaxation ,the streets become bare and peaceful and streetlights provide a sense of security and direction , the darkness and shadows that lie in the unknown generates a feeling of fear and anxiety in one’s consciousness but this fear is generated inside our imagination! This control our imagination has on our emotions will persist, and as a society we will continue walking home faster in the darkness then we would in the day time
To develop my collages and enhance the juxtaposition I decided to spray bleach on certain areas
For making my experimental films I observed and related to the works of John Smith. The structure of Smiths films is stunningly simple and deceptively subtle. In particular the film “Blight” was highly influential, the rhythm, emotive soundtrack is partly musical and partly a collage of voices. For my experimental films the soundtrack incorporates natural sounds associated with my “space” with fragments from recorded conversations of my family, sounds collected from everyday objects, sounds generated from the tractor garage and deliberate voice messages. Like Smith’s films I constructed my film from research of real events.
The voiceover in my film was linked with the everyday struggle of the “Covid” while also exploring the theme of nostalgia.
Similarly, like Smith I tried to record close up creating a sense of mystery and anticipation through the withholding of visual information. Smith depicted the destruction of a London street and I depicted the destruction of my life in the hands of Covid 19. Smith plays with the power of language which is an element I displayed and highlighted in my film work. John Smith