Facing Phobias
A visual exploration of irrational fear
Fears can protect people, shape their identities, and determine their limits, but they can also be debilitating. In contrast to rational fear, which is a defensive response to a potentially harmful stimulus, phobias are irrational fears. Phobias develop from a variety of factors such as learning and conditioning, genetic predispositions, social pressures, or traumatic experiences.
For this series I produced digital images that both portray and evoke irrational fears, inviting the viewer to not only witness phobias, but also to get a sense of what it is like to experience them. The collection of images depicts a variety of phobias, ranging from those that are commonly recognized (acrophobia, the fear of heights) to ones that are lesser known (chaetophobia, the fear of hair). Each image emulates a specific phobia. The work attempts to blur the line between rational and irrational fears, and asks the viewer to examine their own anxieties and discomforts while perhaps understanding the irrational phobias of others.
In order to emphasize and effectively evoke the phobic experience, I have explored various methods of capturing and digitally manipulating my images. The color and scale of each image is managed relative to the phobia that is illustrated. Additionally, some of the images are composites of several photographs, combining elements to create an image with greater depth and dimension or emphasize the presence or movement of the subjects.
In studying a psychological subject, I have investigated something more internal than apparent–to not photograph something as it is, but rather as it seems, to expose on the surface something beneath the surface. Focusing on phobias has given me the opportunity to investigate a particular environment of the mind and to create work with a subject that is more implicit than explicit, and something that is real but also imaginative.