This thesis investigates how trauma originating from psychological adversity experienced during early childhood affects an individual’s perception of the world and sense of self. Furthermore, it explores ways of observing and expressing traumatic em...
This thesis investigates how trauma originating from psychological adversity experienced during early childhood affects an individual’s perception of the world and sense of self. Furthermore, it explores ways of observing and expressing traumatic emotions and damaged self-images through printmaking practices. Recurrent motifs such as rabbits, fragmented human bodies, and anatomical and medical imaging—including anatomical illustrations, X-ray images, and MRI scans—function as symbolic mediators representing anxiety, depression, isolation, and psychosomatic symptoms caused by trauma.
This research begins by examining how persistent experiences of anxiety, depression, and isolation become internalized and normalized, eventually forming addictive emotional patterns. It then addresses the directness of language when attempting to communicate negative emotions and sensations through verbal expression. Excessively explicit language becomes encoded within the artwork as a means of representing trauma, while metaphorical imagery creates psychological distance, allowing the work to address the repetitive and intrusive nature of traumatic memory.
Rather than revealing traumatic emotions or damaged self-images in a direct, language-like manner, the works employ symbolic imagery such as rabbits, anatomical diagrams, and medical imaging to establish metaphorical expression and emotional distance. The rabbit, derived from the form of a childhood attachment object, functions as a symbolic presence that projects vulnerability and a fragile sense of self. Anatomical illustrations and medical images can be understood as attempts to visualize and quantify overwhelming emotions and pain experienced as a result of trauma.
From a material perspective, this study utilizes the line-etching technique of copperplate printmaking to measure psychological distance when observing the self that has experienced trauma. In particular, the contrast between two distinct types of lines within the works allows for an analysis of differing approaches to expressing traumatic emotion and self-image. Variations in the speed and rhythm of lines, as well as the tools used to create them, directly influence the visual impression of the line, thereby altering the emotional atmosphere and tension within the image.
Additionally, the selective use of color enables the motifs that mediate traumatic memory and emotion to move beyond realistic representation. Black is employed to transform form into an object of contemplation, while pale gray tones—close to the color of the paper—visually articulate the distance between fading memories and the present. These strategies allow the works to appear indirect and metaphorical, resembling dreamlike scenes rather than direct reproductions of memory.
In conclusion, this study demonstrates that traumatic memories and emotions, which are difficult to articulate or communicate through language, can be encountered through visual imagery by establishing a measured psychological distance. The motifs of rabbits and fragmented human bodies function as symbolic devices that enable trauma to be expressed from a distanced perspective. Furthermore, through printmaking techniques that visualize fragmented bodily forms and through rapid, expansive lines driven by shoulder movement, the works convey distorted self-images and intense emotional states caused by trauma in an indirect yet effective manner, avoiding overtly literal representation.