Artist Feature: Dolce Paganne
"Mental health, drug use, death, starvation, and our damaged environment"
To become desensitized to something means that the more often a specific sensation is experienced, the weaker of a response it triggers. Repetition numbs reaction until there is hardly a response at all. In an age where humans are able to witness horrific events around the world at will, desensitization is an inevitable epidemic. Paganne’s art works against this process, shaking the viewer with gorgeously detailed imagery that – while not outright gory or classically frightening – leaves us with a deep sense of unease. Mental health, drug use, death, starvation, and our damaged environment are shown through the visages of children and feminine forms. Colors are used sparingly for emphasis; subtle reds on shades of white and cream pull the eyes to aspects that could otherwise be overlooked. Her works draw visual inspiration from nightmares and sleep paralysis, building hypnotic constructs from those sensations. Dolce Paganne reminds viewers to pay attention to the disturbing undercurrent of modern society and asks the viewer “What creates the real horror today?”.
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Dolce Paganne a.k.a Ceren Aksungur is an Istanbul origin artist based in Antwerp. The artist’s focus in her surreal drawings is on the “sinister” aspect that resides in the details of daily life.