Abstract:
The three pieces collectively address the universal human challenge of psychosocial behaviour and dilutions as components of people's emotional, psychological, and social well-being worldwide. The pieces were displayed as part of the exhibition "Artists as Shaman". Since the beginning of time, art and the idea of shamanism have been a part of art history and mankind. Shamanism represents the internal spiritual energy and religious behaviour in which an individual communicates with energies in the fourth dimension and/or galaxy. This kind of phenomenon is portrayed as a universal transitional human experience. I therefore agree with Singh (2018) who applies the theory of evolution to account for how shaman encounters and narratives have changed over time, from the prehistoric era to the present. And also thinks that such a practice will endure into future generations once the current generation has passed on.
In this body of work, I argue that the San people of Southern Africa, who were part of prehistoric man, explored, understood, and accepted the shaman dance and its metamorphosis into spirit-man as a bearable and acceptable spiritual behaviour. The shaman is believed to be able to access these trance-like or ecstatic religious experiences in an uncontrollable manner that is similar to bipolar trances. The shamanism theory also describes this.
Researchers believe that shamans operate in voluntarily inducing blissful trance states that change their awareness and allow them to enter the realms of the invisible worlds. Working relationships, they establish with spirits in those realms are what allow them to learn things and effect change there. In this way, shamanism functions as a relationship-based method of affecting changes in the spiritual world.
Therefore, it should be considered socially acceptable to compare modern man's psychosocial behaviour to the occasional shamanic trances that modern people go through.
I utilised oxide on paper to make this body of work, and the body of work features stains, shaman-like energy fluctuations, and illusions. The patterns are related to corroded social ties brought on by generations of prejudice for those with mental illness. Regardless of gender, creed, or religion, these tendencies usually mirror the psychological problems that influence people universally as shamanism or bipolar trances. As a result, conflicts and tensions in the environment develop, which may be avoided if mental health received the attention it deserves. The goal of this body of work, as well as its justification, is for societies to be more understanding of and supportive of people who have mental health problems. I think that my research on certain images and materials, like oxides, contributes significantly to the visual discourse on mental health in this domain of experiential learning.
