THE UNCANNY
FNB Art Fair Open City 2024
The Uncanny as defined by psychologist Sigmund Freud refers to something that is not new or foreign, but something familiar and old. It arises from the unconscious mind when a person is met with something strange, yet inexplicably familiar.
This exhibition attempts to explore the uncanny as exemplified in the works of artists from our continent, all of whose work includes photography in its different forms. Photography in itself deals with memory, and the murky area of what we believe we remember. The uncanny occurs as a repeated subtle theme in all of their work and in their observations on the world. In their own way each artist invites us to marvel at the many ways in which the uncanny can occur in photographic works.