Ego Death is concerned with self-love, self-care, and a cult of feminine energy. Building up exposures on color film, new objects, colors and patterns become talismen and transport the seeker to alternate realities.
Each part of this work investigates a different aspect of journeying into new realms of consciousness and what the seeker may encounter along the way. I approach this work as both participant and observer, collapsing the relationship between religious experience, neurological processes, optical aberrations and psychedelic culture. For me art making is a devotional act and through each installation the relationship between my beliefs and my inherent skepticism confront one another, asking the question: is this real or fabricated? This work reflects my uncertain search and the craving for spiritual transcendence.
Ego Death exists on the precipice between the bliss and the terror that occur when a sense of separate, independent self is destroyed. It is a battle between grasping and release. Visions rise to the surface, and form new associations in the space-time continuum. Stand-ins for self surround the seeker – cheap and plastic, obvious fakes. When seen in such a clear light, the self becomes insubstantial and disintegrates before our eyes. For just a few moments (longer with practice), there is immense freedom.