CATHARSIS - LINDA ZHENGOVÁ
Linda Zhengová (b. 1995) is a photographer from the Czech Republic currently living and working in The Netherlands. Earlier this year, Zhengová graduated from a Photography BA at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. In the graduation series ‘Catharsis’, Zhengová explores the notion of her suppressed childhood trauma. The long-term project entails a photographic installation and a publication.
“How can one represent something visually that is by its very essence unrepresentable without banalising it, trivialising it, spectacularising it, and finally repressing it for a second time?”
‘Catharsis’ is an artistic reflection on Zhengová’s process of dealing with an early trauma which started resurfacing after twelve years in the form of nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks. Being unable to verbalise her suppressed fears, the artist decided to start working on her trauma through the visual language of photography.
The title ‘Catharsis’ points to the processes of releasing the long suppressed emotions, opening up the old painful wounds and giving them time and space to heal. Her work prioritises lived experience and explores traumatic memory not from the perspective of moral and medical classifications but instead, as an open artistic inquiry. The images that comprise the series are a mix of old archival footage and photos taken in her current surrounding. By choosing to focus on flashbacks and triggers, Zhengová explores the fragmented nature of traumatic memory. Her personal experiences of having intense and vivid recollections were the main inspiration for the visual storyline.
Mingling somewhere between anxiety and confrontation with reality, the project reveals an imaginary collective of traumatic experiences that belong to different individuals. The series reflects on the post-traumatic emotional process all victims of affliction can relate to. Despite being finished as an art project, ‘Catharsis’ lives on in real life.
Linda is launching a pre-sale of her first monograph ‘Catharsis'. You can find more info here.
You can meet Zhengová's work and other 99 great photography talents on FRESH EYES book. >>>