Nikole Hoberg BFA Printmaking Thesis Spring 2018
Etched in Memory
This body of work encapsulates the experience of living with mental illness and the effects of childhood trauma. It deals with themes of protection as well as self harm. It functions as a fragmented visual diary of suffering from comorbid disorders. These complex subjects are addressed through the process of intaglio. Etching is directly connected to both the body and mind. The plate holds the scars of the process, like the cells of the body hold the memories of experience. This work is a combination of etching prints as well as the newsprint wrappings the plates were carried in. Cleaning off hardground from sharpies used to correct mistakes on plates, created automatic drawings on the newsprint wrappings. Showing the wrappings reveals the hidden process behind the work. Displaying the prints and wrappings together unifies the process with the final product. The process is as important as the content of the work. Writing backwards on the plate is about translation and memory. The pulling of a print signifies the reveal of text as well as the reveal of memory. These concepts are connected to trauma and the experience of repressed memories. The style of text in each piece is correlated to different voices that exist internally related to suffering from mental illness. This work is a collection of a multitude of voices. Some text is written with my left hand which addresses the split between the unconscious and conscious. The color in this work functions as a code. Pieces printed in black are old traumas while pieces printed in red are recent agitations or episodes. The pieces printed in two colors are meant to convey the duality of opposing thoughts or emotions. The imagery in the work is symbolic in nature and related to internal entities or objects of fixation. All of the imagery was drawn from memory.