Presenter: Nina Larsen
Authors: Karina Larsen
Faculty Advisor: McGarren Flack
Institution: Dixie State University
This project explores how to visualizecognitive distortions and negative self-talk. I seek to create a language that connects those who experience these distortions through the use of textual and visual elements simultaneously. Visual and textual language are typically separated even when used to supplement one another; I find great interest in blurring the boundaries between the two. Lalla Essaydi’s use of words in her photographic process influenced how I think about text as a part of visual language and conceptual storytelling. My project contributes to the oeuvre of artworks that rely on text by encouraging viewers to contemplate the power of words. I’ve utilized the alphabet to answer how text and visual arts can be linked to communicate cognitive distortion.A letter corresponds to the abstracted knobs and carved negative statements on each pot.Repetition reinforces ideas ; each statement starts at the top of the vessel in thin, small writing and increases in size going down the pot. This distorts the way we perceive ourselves and our relationships with others, accordingly, these mid-range pots were thrown and altered, corresponding with the power of internal and external forces in altering the mind. The layered repetitionobscures the legibility, making the words a pattern rather than text.This near-indecipherability represents how dark thoughts are not perceived by outsiders.Lack of textual clarity also explores the all encompassing prominence of such statements on the self. The satin black glaze lining of these pots creates pits of darkness. Self-directed negativity often goes unexpressed, and like a lidded pot, is contained. By asking whether there is a visual language for expressing negative self-perceptions, I discovered that this ubiquitous experience of cognitive distortions can be expressed visually through text, form, and color. I plan to continue these explorations of language and words across various mediums.