Nightmare Archives

2020-2024

“Nightmare Archives” is a project based on five years of dream records. Over this period, I documented 268 dreams and selected 46 nightmares centered on themes such as fear, death, and oppression for further analysis and presentation. Initially, I viewed these dreams merely as reflections of personal fear and a sense of helplessness. However, through studying Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious, I gradually realized that these dreams might conceal broader social and psychological phenomena.

Symbols like blood and death appear frequently in the dreams. They not only represent my own internal fears but also seem to embody a shared human unconscious experience, connecting with certain collective psychological states.

In this project, I use flash photography to capture everyday objects and scenes, seeking clues in reality that correspond to the origins of the nightmares. Through the process of deconstructing the relationship between dreams and daily life, I found that the oppressive feelings in the nightmares gradually dissipated, and the nature of the dreams themselves began to shift.

Ultimately, “Nightmare Archives” is not only a documentation and analysis of personal nightmares but also an exploration of social psychology and shared symbolic meanings. It allowed me to reexamine fear and discover ways to understand and dissolve it.


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