Final year project
Trauma processing and art as catharsis [Read more]
Demon series, 2019
Double self-portrait, 2019
Trauer und wut, 2019
The martyr, 2019
Shroud of Paris, 2019
Grief, 2019
Matylda, 2020
Self, 2020
Sophie-Hélène Weiler
My practice is a vehicle with which to explore emotional states resulting from the processing of trauma.
My work centres around engaging with deeply personal subject matter, expanding to explore the core of trauma processing, and the emotions experienced as a result of these processes. Experimenting with two forms of cathartic object-making, I investigated their value as vehicles for processing trauma, as well as their import to a larger public. My artworks emerge as highly emotionally charged – either through a sudden burst of creative energy, or through a longer, more meditative, and reflective process of creation. I am interested in how my artworks (or ‘sensory objects’) sit within a larger framework of cathartic and process-led art, and how my visual language is informed by my childhood home. My degree course, combined with my placement year, has helped me gain clarity in my creative practice and the knowledge of how to apply my unique skill set in the modern workspace.
Final year project
Trauma processing and art as catharsis
Awards
'20 Diploma in Professional Studies
Experience
The most important takeaway from my placement year was an awareness of my unique set of skills, and how they function in a multitude of modern workspaces. My international background, cultural sensitivity and awareness, as well as language skills all proved formidable assets not only in a work context, but also in networking with individuals and institutions globally. I proved to myself that even when I am missing a specific skill set (for example Photoshop literacy at the start of my internship at McCann), I am quick on the uptake and not shy to reach out for help from senior co-workers. I am not afraid of a challenge, as illustrated by working a fully francophone job as a non-native French speaker at Air de Paris and am constantly striving for excellence in every aspect of my job. The crowning achievement of my placement year was at the age of twenty being offered a permanent position as junior creative at McCann Worldgroup in Warsaw.
Placements
July 2018 - September 2018
Creative & Design Department Intern, McCann Worldgroup
October 2018 - March 2019
Administrative Intern, Air de Paris
April 2019 - July 2019
Project Intern, Katarzyna Kozyra Foundation