Rachelle van, FLESH IN FLUX (PEOPLE 2025)

FLESH IN FLUX visualises the experience of sleep paralysis during my recovery from brain surgery —often referred to as the 'zipper-head surgery’ due to the distinctive scar it leaves. This body of work explores the neurological rewiring of the brain that occurs throughout the healing process. At the centre of the experience was the surreal feeling of being both trapped within and simultaneously detached from my own body. This dissociative duality, both intensely corporeal and eerily spectral, became a recurring motif in the work: the self as both subject and observer, wounded and witness. The imagery draws inspiration from the three-dimensional, shifting sensation of an MRI scan, and the instability, unease, and vulnerability of confronting fear in its physical form. Stroboscopic and low shutter speed camera techniques were used to mirror the sensation of slipping in and out of solidity — of fear pressing against skin and bone. It is a study of flesh in flux, of the body caught between terror and trust.

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