Hematophobia-2023
Fainting Blood
Fainting Blood explores the physical and psychological process of vasovagal syncope — a fear reflex triggered by the sight of blood, in which the body involuntarily collapses as heart rate and blood pressure drop.
This installation consists of seven works that trace a progression from the first appearance of blood to bodily disintegration. Through a deliberate shift in material weight and spatial intensity, the work mirrors the escalating physiological sensation of fear and loss of control.
Rooted in the concept of exposure therapy, Fainting Blood transforms fear into something visible and tangible. By confronting the viewer with bodily vulnerability rather than avoiding it, the installation examines fainting as a moment where autonomy, instinct, and social conditioning intersect — a threshold between fragility and resilience, surrender and control.
For me, the ego is an entity coursing through the blood—intangible yet deeply embedded within the body.
The skin, an impermeable barrier, serves as its boundary, safeguarding the self from dissolution.
But when this barrier is breached, fear sets in: the fear of losing a part of ourselves,
of spilling out in liquid or solid form, of unraveling into something beyond our control.
This rupture teeters on the edge of self-disintegration and an unsettling integration with the external world.