Emily Cress Illustration Thesis Fall 2018

Abstract

Each illustration features a different phobia, 5 natural and 5 societal fears. While there are hundreds of phobias, I’ve picked out the ones that I had familiarity with the most in my life. Whether it be me having the phobia, or the people that I associate with. In addition to also picking the ones that inspired me the most. Due to the lengthy creation process and other obligations, I have since reduced the series to 6 but topically split in the same way. The three natural ones are: Melissophobia the fear of bees, Herpetophobia, the fear of reptiles, and Trypophobia the fear of holes. The three societal ones are as follows: Aichmophobia, the fear of sharp things, Automatonophobia, the fear of false human representation, and Sciophobia, the fear of shadows. Once I chose the phobia I sought out medical information and then first hand perspectives on each one. What inspired me the most were online posts that were places for people to vent their frustrations; especially in poem form.