Traces: The Unthought Known
The subtitle of this exhibition (2014), The Unthought Known, is a phrase first coined by British Psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas more than 20 years ago, in his book, The Shadow of the Object. The Unthought Known is experienced through the senses – it’s a visceral memory, a felt memory of our encounter with the first maternal holding environment. We are steeped in powerful responses in relation to our first environment: it shapes who we are. It is what is innately familiar to us... what we feel in our bones as it were... but we can’t ‘think’ about it… sometimes there are no words...
In 'The Shadow of the Object', psychoanalyst Bollas (1987) considers the aesthetic moment, reverential and awesome, is actually a 'crystallised' moment in time and space related to our first aesthetic experience; the maternal holding environment. His seminal work explores the idea of memories known but unthought and traces of these memories we all hold, benevolent or otherwise. They are essentially wordless states from a time before language sponsored by the mother.
Art psychotherapy, being primarily a non-verbal therapy, has the potential to uncover these phenomena that seem to determine the way we are in the world. Through dream work, image making and projective identification, (that is, the therapists ability to ‘hold’ what cannot be ‘thought about’), it can become possible to unlock the deep, felt experiences that reside in the unthought known.
The work by the artists in this exhibition reflects this interesting juncture between consciousness and the unthought known - each artist has responded and commented in their own idiosyncratic way.
In 'The Shadow of the Object', psychoanalyst Bollas (1987) considers the aesthetic moment, reverential and awesome, is actually a 'crystallised' moment in time and space related to our first aesthetic experience; the maternal holding environment. His seminal work explores the idea of memories known but unthought and traces of these memories we all hold, benevolent or otherwise. They are essentially wordless states from a time before language sponsored by the mother.
Art psychotherapy, being primarily a non-verbal therapy, has the potential to uncover these phenomena that seem to determine the way we are in the world. Through dream work, image making and projective identification, (that is, the therapists ability to ‘hold’ what cannot be ‘thought about’), it can become possible to unlock the deep, felt experiences that reside in the unthought known.
The work by the artists in this exhibition reflects this interesting juncture between consciousness and the unthought known - each artist has responded and commented in their own idiosyncratic way.
Exhibition Photography: Mike Blackett
Traces Exhibition Catalogue: BAAT Newsbriefing Article:
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