Mind Chatter, Moments of Beauty, Kate Hollett
Three image stills from the video installation “Mind Chatter, Moments of Beauty.“ The first still shows three wood and plastic chairs lined up against a building wall. the second image is a blurred street scene with a light-skinned older man sitting in the background, next to some bagged yard waste. The third image features shattered glass in a radial pattern.
Title: Mind Chatter, Moments of Beauty
Artist: Kate Hollett
Date: 2015
Medium/Materials: Video installation
Dimensions: 00:07:23
Form/Genre: Video art
Key Terms/Subject/Tags: PTSD; Memory; Dissociation
Artist Statement:
Mind Chatter, Moments of Beauty is a video installation that explores the effects of PTSD on identity and disassociation. First completed in Toronto, it was then exhibited in conjunction with the Neuroaesthetics Association and the School of Mind and Brain at Humboldt University. Later, it was published in a book entitled Synaesthesia and Kinaesthetics.
Mind Chatter, Moments of Beauty breaks down thought and physical reality by separating video and audio experiences. The video installation recreates the experience of the brain dealing with PTSD, bouncing from one side to the other, where daily chores, memories, media experiences, and relationships create chatter. In rare moments of peace, all parts of the brain focus on a perceived ‘Moment of Beauty”, like the scent of a rose or a sunset.
This film installation challenges our idea of identity as a contained state, travelling coherently through time, by interrogating the layers of subjective and objective experience. The work exposes the interactions between consciousness and the world, and the mediating role played by memory and emotion.
The camera plays a dual role that reflects physical engagement with the world, and as it prompts various thoughts and feelings that chatter away in the mind. Common images are presented as a collage, as sound is used to express the layers of reflection that accompany each physical encounter. Together, sound and image try to express the distance between what we experience and how it reflects on who we are in each moment.
Cultural Context / Story Behind the Work:
This was completed while Kate Hollett was going through therapy at Mount Sinai Hospital under the care of Dr. Rodney Slonim.
Rights for this Image:
This digital image is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. You are free to share it for non-commercial purposes, as long as you credit the artist.