Karli Kasprzak

Into the Subconscious

Throughout my thesis project, Into the Subconscious I capture ideas about my mental health, and the challenges I face daily. In this series of self-portraits, my aim is to express anxiety and depression in a surreal way, by creating dreamscapes of feelings that I experience. By photographing myself I have discovered feelings I didn’t know I struggled with. For each photoshoot I had to focus on the darkest side of myself, I rely on my subconscious to create work in a performative way. The performance aspect of my work is meant to be seen in the form of a photograph, because I believe people only see a portion of what someone actually goes through with anxiety and depression. These emotions  are draining and at times difficult to get out of bed in the morning this is something I express in my series. This project, Into the Subconscious, shows the most vulnerable side of myself; in October (2019) I had an incident with self harm, this project helped me express what I couldn't speak. I use the studio environment to create these dreamscapes using strobe lights and reflectors to enhance the sense of anxiety and darkness in the photographs that create consuming and overwhelming feelings. This work is intended to be a reflection of my subconscious with each shoot transporting the viewer out of the real world. In these photographs, what they represent and my process of creating I hope to reveal parallels of my subconscious and how I experience and work through these emotions to help myself and others.