Date of Award
Spring 5-31-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Photography
First Advisor
Laine Rettmer
Second Advisor
Anne West
Third Advisor
Conor Moynihan
Abstract
The images in The Navel of the Dream evoke a state of groundlessness. In this body of work, photographs act as thresholds between what is seen and what is felt, between daydreams and nightmares, and memories and myths. The camera is used as a means to engage with feelings of loss, and reenact the mythos of childhood, as well as the deep waters of the subconscious.
Created in Southern Sweden between 2022 and 2025, these photographs investigate the fallow winter landscape, the liminal space of deep, dark Scandinavian nights and the transformative qualities of ice, snow and fire. Light, in these images, illuminates the boundaries of what is known. Uncanny moments of connection begin to construct a new mythology, the building blocks of a space upended by loss.
Recommended Citation
Baum, Ella C., "The Navel Of The Dream" (2025). Masters Theses. 1494.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1494
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
Art and Design Commons, Cognition and Perception Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Folklore Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, Photography Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Poetry Commons, Scandinavian Studies Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Somatic Psychology Commons, Theory and Philosophy Commons, Visual Studies Commons