The Subtle Body
Photomedia Quadriptych
By Benjamin Broinowski


The delicate ethereal notion of a human aura greatly interests me. According to spiritualists such as the Kabbalists and Buddhism, we all have a unique aura. The third layer of one's mental state that fascinates me the most. The fragility and visual qualities of the “subtle body” articulate the idea that our very aura corresponds to our mental states. The corresponding colours: black/red, pink/yellow/green/orange and blue/black are aesthetically complimentary but vibrate how an aura would. The differentiating colours signify states of mind, mood, emotion and sensory sensitivities. Sensitivity to sound corresponds to heightened mood and emotions. The blur and abstractions play an important role in unpacking intention in my work. The blur represents the unrepresentable and the mysterious, memories that persist and fade in and out of consciousness. Just like we experience altered states of the mind so too does our aura. The aura is a metaphor for the fragility of our mind. The subtle body is inextricably linked to our subtle and sometimes fragile mind. What we see is the subtle body revealing its hidden psychic manifestations. Mental health is a fine line and it lives within our subtle bodies.