Papilionoidea Fear
Staicy Ngongu
Almost everyone has an irrational fear of something. However, it is difficult to explain the overwhelming anxiety or panic felt toward a beautiful and gentle species such as the butterfly.
My book is a story of a fear of butterflies brought to life visually, which negates your perception of beauty associated with a butterfly. The book follows a life journey through a progression to the symbolism of death.
My thesis explores the morphology of a butterfly that serves to distort aspects of the butterfly in ways that convey images of fear, repulsion and horror. Here I intend to evoke feelings of terror and anxiety in the reader so that they share my childhood trauma and better grasp the irrational fear I experience.
Within the visual evolution my book traces, I have divided the process into three distinct phases: Metamorphosis, Transformation and Death.
In the first phase, titled Metamorphosis, I have attempted to explore the beginning of life, representing the birth of a butterfly in a beyond earthly alien way.
In the second phase, titled Transformation, I explore taking the form of a butterfly and distorting it through a collage series of disturbing diseased eyes and mouths. I investigated butterfly wing mimicry of predators, expanding this into my own visual response using projected images over my eyes.
In the last phase, titled Death, I capture narrative moments in horror and thriller films where a butterfly is present.