Rachel Berkowitz

Isolation Portraits: Nightmare of the Forgotten Self

Isolation Portraits: Nightmare of the Forgotten Self

This series was created during the historic time of quarantine, it is acknowledging the cultural context of what it means to be living during the lockdown. Pushing the conversation to reference time and mental stability when everything else is fundamentally unstable. Rachel was at an artist residency in La Napoule France before the lockdown began, and as a result, she was stranded for months in a strange place, with people she barely knew during the pandemic. In this work, she is seen with the Quimera Mask by Tadeo Muleiro, who was also a resident in the program.

"Looking deep within yourself and exploring personal reflections that highlight your inner fears. During this time of Isolation, humanity has been given the time to explore and embrace the inner shadows that have been hiding amidst the distractions of everyday normality. Finding these negative issues that bother us in dreams and in our subconscious thoughts need to be addressed for positive thinking to be heightened. Overcoming inner turmoils allows for clarity and new insights into approaching how we live our lives." - Berkowitz

A constant knocking

Awakens the forgotten self.

Illusions of internal nightmares

Dance around an empty room.

Escape with me.

As in Paradise Lost,

“The mind is its own place.

And in itself

Can make a

Heaven of Hell,

A Hell of Heaven.”

Monsters of the mind

Can rarely be tamed.

Releasing trapped emotions.

The female body acts as a vessel

For organic transformations of buried desires.

Performing rituals of chaotic consumption

Glorifying the physical need for constant affirmation.

The shadow of the sea

Vibrates against the constant drumming

Of the waning moon.

This theatrical production of life

Shapes the fearful concept of time.

Dualities merge

Against the rigid grids of

Polarities.

Forgiving oneself.

Reflecting on

The uncertainty of human morality.

Adrenaline, Fear, Hope, Longing,

Temptation.

But mostly,

Vulnerability.