To bring together the natural plant based psychedelic substances and the corresponding psychedelic experience to be had on each. This is to challenge the impersonal, negative and unnatural common "drug" stigma and illegality attached to these substances - by focusing on the beauty of nature in the hope of reconnecting and educating the audience.
Concept:
- A botanical illustration of each of the core psychedelic plants:
- LSD, Cannabis, Psilocybin, Iboga, Ayahuasca, Mescaline
- Each botanical illustration will feature as individual pages within a book publication.
- Each of these botanical illustration pages will be bound as pockets within the book, where a small publication corresponding with each of the botanical illustrations can be housed within.
- These small pull out publications will feature the psychedelic experience to be had on each of the substances / the journey undertaken by the subject.
- Each of these small pull out publications will be conceptual artwork based on case studies sourced through primary research - promoting the personal and real relationship between substance and subject.
* Botanical Illustrations:
- Detailed depiction of what each plant naturally looks like
* Small pull out publication:
- Psychedelic
- Personal
- (this will be difficult to depict)
Additional proposals / further ideas
- Instead of the pocket book (above), a publication could be filled with botanical illustrations of each substance, with a centre spread featuring a pull out larger poster of the psychedelic experience which is initially folded to fit the format of the book, but then could unfold and detach from the publication. This pull out would be a printed poster of the psychedelic experience.
- Selected artworks could be made into screen prints collection
- Botanical artwork prints: Educational
- Psychedelic experience prints: Reportage?
- Key rings for each psychedelic plant: woodcut / laser cut
- Postcards: Min versions of the artwork / prints
- The problems I am having at this stage:
- I am not sure how to visual portray the psychedelic experience
- Who are my audience?
- Will anyone want this artwork?
- I do not want my artwork to be stereotypically "psychedelic" - but how do I represent a psychedelic experience without this aesthetic (The experience is surreal in nature - branching away from this is not true to what has been experienced -however due to the experience being so far removed from the norm - I am worried the audience will not get it / struggle to relate or understand)