Fear Eats The Soul
2017
Branding iron on cotton rag paper
29 x 21 cm
Fear Eats the Soul was developed from Michaela Gleave’s large-scale installation of the same name, commissioned for Dark Mofo in 2016. Created using a branding iron on cotton rag paper, the work translates the illuminated text of the original installation into an intimate, permanent inscription. Heat scorches the words into the paper, making the phrase inseparable from the damage required to produce it.
The work considers the ways fear shapes personal and collective behaviour. The act of branding carries associations of ownership, control and violence, while the vulnerability of the paper gives physical form to the corrosive potential of fear. At this scale, the public declaration becomes a private encounter, asking us to consider what we allow fear to mark and determine.