Stephanie Hamer

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Alternate states of consciousness and otherworldly presences are the core themes of my paintings and visual depictions. Often rooted in mythological narratives, I explore the ethereal realms that we find living alongside us in reality – the paranormal, false memories, and paranoia. I regularly keep a dream diary to help inform the style of work which helps echo this transitional state of mind. Channeling themes of Dark Romanticism, my work entwines common human settings with distorted figures to create often macabre and surreal images centring on subjects of oppression, death, and relationship dynamics. Visually I am interested in tensions that are expressed in forms such as scale and stark colour palettes, and include more emotive manifestations like strained facial expressions and body compositions. Butoh performance has been a huge influence in helping me to achieve this, alongside the malformed paintings of Francis Bacon, the glitched choreography of Pina Bausch, and the theatre works of David Byrne (Talking Heads).