UNDERSTANDING THE RESULT

 

Jung contributes two significant things with his research: the characteristics and meaning of the images through which our unconscious expresses itself, the images of the collective unconscious; and the phases of the adult psyche's individuation process, which are nothing more than the personal development throughout our lives through which we integrate conscious and unconscious to an ever greater extent (the so-called "integration of shadows").

He concluded these phases based on the specific form described by unconscious images: first, a conscious encounter with the "shadow" occurs; then it is integrated, meaning the unconscious becomes conscious; and finally, the "self" phase where the personality manifests entirely from its "unified center," our place of greatest internal coherence. 

It is necessary to clarify that this integration process Jung refers to occurs constantly in our psyche throughout our lives; it is the usual functioning of the relationship between conscious and unconscious. It happens in layers/levels, meaning each time we integrate deeper, more delicate "shadows" for us; and shadows are not just "trauma-level wounds," but any aspect of ourselves that our unconscious has had to "protect"/hide to ensure our survival at a specific moment.

There comes a central moment in the process when Jung begins to identify a figure among his archetypal images that particularly catches my attention: the mandala.

He explains that the circle containing opposing elements, or the mandala, is an unconscious representation of the integration process carried out by our psyche. It symbolizes the integration of opposites, "lights" and "shadows," "shadows" that become "light," unconscious that we integrate into the conscious. The circular shape is felt and represented as the form that "embraces" and "welcomes" everything within us, this process of individuation, and acts as a unifying center.

Thus, I could finally understand the profound meaning and unconscious significance of my pictorial and sculptural formalizations: the circles that embrace and contain elements are my own unconscious mandalas.

We usually associate mandalas with symmetry, but Jung already explained that this was not what was important. What is relevant is the circular shape, which embraces or encloses, "acts as a temenos... containing dangerous unconscious contents so that they can manifest without overflowing the psyche" (Jung, 2010); the integration of opposites, which in my compositions is represented by the strong color contrasts in the backgrounds and the smudges or scribbles in dialogue, oriented around a center — Jung says, "the opposing colors... represent coincidentia oppositorum, the union of opposites in totality" (Jung, 2010), "the decisive factor is not the external form or symmetry, but the presence of the center as a point of psychic orientation and the tension of opposites that resolve themselves within it" (Jung, 2010,) —; and, as we anticipated, that we are dealing with unconscious production, meaning that the image emanates from a meditative state. Jung also explains how, when integration occurs and the "self" emerges, what emerges is our "newborn" and "vulnerable" self in psychological terms.

This is how I understood how that recurring shape in my compositions – a large, irregularly circular head with a thin, elongated body in clear disproportion – is the unconscious representation of my "self"; and that, being an archetypal formalization, just like mandalas, it could actually be any of us. 

"The self does not always appear framed in complete mandalas; it frequently manifests as independent anthropomorphic figures — a central head with a reduced lower body — which alone express the psychic totality in the process of individuation" (Jung, 2010).

Finally, to understand my sculptures, it is necessary to explain that in Jungian psychology, the ego is described as a small circle within a large circle, or a point located at its center. This structure is very consistent with the idea of psychic integration of shadows and the emergent "self" that Jung explains; as a person's inner development progresses, the ego reduces. 

And precisely, this very structure can be observed in many of the sculptural formalizations presented. We see a large circle, which would correspond to that "giant head" we talked about in the paintings; thin threads/lines, which would refer to the very thin body disproportionate to the "giant head"; and another small circle that corresponds to the representation of the ego and appears smaller due to the advancement of the shadow integration and individuation process explained.