James G: The Uncanny and Internal Sourcing

In The Uncanny, an essay written by Sigmund Freud, there is a lengthy discussion on ideas which are both intriguing and unsettling. The ripping out of eyes is an extremely grotesque idea which Freud links to a fear of castration. The theory is interesting and makes sense coming from Freud, who briefly looks again to the story of Oedipus, who blinded himself after finding he married his mother and killed his father. The surrealists took this idea of intriguing yet unsettling in their paintings, with dismembered torsos in numerous paintings and a general sense of overbearing.

It seems that Jan Harrison takes this idea of the uncanny in her work. The cat eyes are unsettling and the unfamiliar creatures add a sense of mystery and unease that is appealing and plain weird simultaneously. Her process works the same mysterious and uneasy way, with her imaginary friends vocalizing from her subconscious and painting through her.

This idea of playing with the uncanny in order to make people uneasy is also used by Pipilotti Rist, who utilizes editing to make her pieces give a sense of discomfort. A woman with a metal flower and large smile smashing car windows while a police officer approvingly nods, or a sped-up and out of focus dancing woman singing the first line to “Happiness is a Warm Gun” both are offputting, as are her other works. Whether they deal with female empowerment or not, the way her videos are executed directly deals with the uncanny.