A Dream For a dream

Dream images are of themselves another language, the language of our inner landscape.

When we recall our dream images and attempt to capture them in spoken language, these images suffer a transformation. They cross the threshold of the unconscious into the conscious mind, where they seem to lack logic and are difficult to understand. This is perhaps because we are meant to understand them instead through intuition, similar to a poem. 

Since 2014, I have been leading a group experiment with a variety of international participants in the pursuit of the language of the unconscious. These events have taken place with migrant women and minority youth in Los Angeles, as well as with participants in Mexico City and Paris. These experiments have led to connections that grow beyond every day conversation, and access inner mythologies of being and ancestry.  

While traveling to Japan in 2019, I wanted to continue with this psychological art experiment. Given that I wanted to treat this material with respect and sensitivity, I had the idea of proposing an exchange between myself, and the participant, where they would receive something in return for giving me their dream. I did not speak the local language, so instead I decided to speak through images and gestures, allowing the participant to have one of my own dream images in exchange for theirs.