The Fragmented Self

The Fragmented Self continues the theme of trauma, dissociation, and the recursive visual structure referencing previous works. Derived from a film-still where the image fractures into mirrored shards before reforming, the painting captures a moment of psychic rupture. The mirrored fragments disrupt spatial unity and depict the psychic fragmentation associated with structural dissociation and complex trauma. (Moskowitz, 2007). This fragmentation visually echoes the logic of Cubism, where breaking down a subject into multiple perspectives reveals a more complicated and integrated understanding of the whole. This process mirrors the alchemical concept of ‘as above, so below,’ where the microcosm reflects the macrocosm, and   inner and outer worlds mirror each other. The fractured image reflects both the internal psyche and the external world, revealing their interdependence in the process of transformation.

The painting conveys the experience of dissociation while also addressing a broader cultural issue.  In the age of digital media and hyperreality, (Baudrillard, 2019) reality becomes unstable and relationships mediated through screens increasingly replace direct human contact.  This shift from direct, embodied, relational experience to a disembodied, screen-based existence results in alienation, loneliness and fragmentation of identity, intensifying the mental health and meaning crisis.  The mirrored image, visual repetition and extension of mise en abyme in the painting

References

Baudrillard, J. (2019) Simulacra and simulation. Translated by S.F. Glaser. Ann Arbor, Mich: Univ. of Michigan Press (The body, in theory - histories of cultural materialism).

John Vervaeke (no date) ‘Awakening from the Meaning Crisis’, 2024 [Preprint].

Jung, C.G. and Jung, C.G. (1977) Mysterium coniunctionis: an inquiry into the separation and synthesis of psychic opposites in alchemy. 2d ed. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press (The collected works of C.G. Jung, v. 14).

Moskowitz, A. (2007) ‘The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization. By Onnovan der Hart, Ellert R. S. Nijenhuis & Kathy Steele. W.W. Norton. 2006.

Smarthistory – Cubism and multiple perspectives (no date). Available at: https://smarthistory.org/cubism-and-multiple-perspectives/?utm_source=chatgpt.com (Accessed: 6 July 2025).