The Dreamer

• Main Author: Chow, Clara-Anne Shueh May
• Other Authors: Oh Soon-Hwa
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Portraits
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/67572
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The Dreamer is a multi-disciplinary artwork based on the artist’s interest on the workings of the mind and the thoughts and dreams of others. This obsession with dream states came about from the artist’s inability to understand death at a young age, interpreting it to be an everlasting dream or sleep state. With the current social milieu, the artist identified the phenomena that people cannot seem to be comfortable being alone and this hampers their ability to be creative. The comfort and the importance of our sense of self cannot and should not be replaced by technologies. We need time for introspection and quiet self-reflection, which has been usurped by technologies such as social media. This is especially the case for digital natives: a generation which has grown up with the increasing encroachment of technology in our lives. We are now constantly fed information forcefully and often do not stop to think or question it and express our thoughts on the information which in turn results in a scarily malleable society. Hence the aim of the artist was to create time for the subjects to reflect upon themselves and to find a good balance of attention to wander and allow for self-generated thought. This human capacity for mental time travel is something to be encouraged and should never viewed to be absent-minded but rather an opportunity to be present-minded with your thoughts.