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Show pg 14 I revisited the hooks in my head, and wondered what object or signifier was the right representation for my myth. These hooks in my head became enormous fishhooks. I do not think that they would necessarily capture a human. More so, I think that they would impale a human severely. I call them my Mental Hooks. When I opened my gallery, someone told me the location was poor. Their words became the hook in my head telling me that, because my gallery was in the wrong location, I am going to fail. Another hook might be a member of the faculty who insists that there is only one way, or a single best process, to achieve being an artist. All of these hooks keep us in place and make it harder for us to see what the possibilities of the Unknown are for ourselves. The narrative of these Mental Hooks is one of seduction, in a way. They lure you with their fictitious bait, their false reasoning, and the prescription for a successful life that others force upon you. Sammy the Salmon Egg was impaled by one of these hooks. He lies there; impaled there on the hook, happy as can be, baiting others into thinking his narrative is desirable. He has become so comfortable with the narratives that others have given him he's become dead inside. I have developed many characters, like Sammy the Salmon Egg, for this self-created mythical realm that a person goes to awaken to oneself. The Brain Diablo represents fear and doubt. There is a moment during a journey when the hero must accept the challenge. Because of the weight that accompanies the unknowns upon embarking on the challenge of the experience, a hero will think, "What was I thinking? This is too hard. It was much easier when I had a desk job in my cubicle farm." That is the Brain Diablo. The questions of self-doubt are how the Brain Diablo introduces himself. The Brain Diablo resides in our head as a manifestation of opposition, and in some religious contexts, the devil. Some other objects and masks include the All Mighty Glob, and his Ugly Cousin. They are blunt and cannot care less about the consequences of their words. These personas believe that their words will make others better off. In reality they only tear them down. A dilemma I found in my work was that the new signifiers for my hero's journey were very personal. This made it excruciatingly difficult to explain, which then made it difficult for people to understand and enter my work. Because of this, I feared that my work would not be able to stand alone and speak for |
