Trauma in childhood in the form of narcissistic abuse causes severe mental and physical distress throughout the life span of the abuse victim. Psychologist argue that severe emotional abuse or neglect in childhood causes a fragmentation of the self where certain parts of the victim's self becomes disassociated or split off as a maladaptive protective response to the trauma. The person disassociates the trauma and parts of him/herself to survive the abuse.
The artworks that I created is an attempt to visually express this phenomenon from my own personal experience with trauma and my struggle to find a stable sense of self. The process involved small ink paintings of grotesque female figures that I created in 2013. These were layered and merged on top of each other in photoshop, creating distorted, chaotic and dramatic lines confusing the outlines and stability of the figure. In addition, a single identifiable face was layered over each figure, confusing the identity of the subject. This confusion as well as the distress that it causes, is what I am trying to bring across to the viewer.
