We had our second meeting with Jungian analyst Catherine Bygott in Somerset on Friday. As well as discussions she led us in a physical exercise to connect us to our unconscious self. It was a challenging activity but really interesting to see how it opened up a connection to less rational, more intuitive thought.
As this project goes on its interesting to see how it is moving from the academic to the experiential and the lines becoming blurred between personal Jungian therapy work, the research work, and the art work in the studio. Matching symbols are passing through all areas and there is merging of the collective and personal unconscious.
Process, experience and ritual are becoming more important in both my personal “inner work” explorations and also in the studio. At times the studio almost touches on feeling like a laboratory and I’m feeling freer to let the materials take some of the lead rather than be in full control of the process. A nice example is the work below that, through an accidental combining of materials, began spontaneous crystallisation over the proceeding days. I had been reflecting on the black “negredo” stage of alchemy (which parallels the “dark night” or depression in psychology) but hadn’t expected a crystallisation effect mirroring the transition into albedo – “the whitening”.
