Logan Valentine
**Cripteron** is a piece exploring the psychological impact of developing a disability, or chronic illness and dealing with changes to the body’s appearance and functionality. This work deals with articulating or visualising pain in its less tangible forms, in private and in public. Inspired by Kafka’s Metamorphosis, I use a moth as a point of comparison, as to me they're representative of many experiences of being disabled, such as yearning. The cocoon I construct using large scale crochet furthers this connection. Homing in on the domesticated silk moth and what has been dubbed as the “self-inflicted demise” of constructing their cocoons. Using this to interrogate issues of autonomy, isolation and self-blame that arise with disability.
This thesis builds on a personal interest in the creative history of science fiction and allegory, to demonstrate the sociological value of discomfort and horror in both art and potentially in consolidation or reconsolidation of the self after trauma or chronic illness and disability. Using the burgeoning definition of ‘the altered self’ genre as an entryway into exploring the disabled body and the disabled existence. By drawing comparisons between the psychological journeys and experiences of some of the more applicable and increasingly iconic characters that can be categorised in under ‘the altered self’, and the works of artists Tracey Emin, Ellie Dent and Doreen Garner (King Kobra), this thesis highlights the imposed dehumanisation of chronic illness and disability. While underlining that while the seemingly impossible experiences of these literary and film narratives may not be a one-to-one comparison, they do provide an insight into the inner turmoil, isolation and splintering of the core of the self that comes from physical pain and change that can strip an individual of autonomy and potentially even their own feeling of humanity. An emphasis placed on understanding the multiplicity of disabled and chronically ill experiences based on factors of the self that existed prior, with an aim of enlarging our understanding the disabled body, but more specifically the psychological impact of having a body that is permanently sick.
Logan Valentine is an artist currently based in Dublin. As somebody who has lived with disability and chronic illness since early adolescence, they are interested in observations of the internal and metaphysical components of the human experience and culture, as well as the connection between the physical body and perception. Their practice emphasises colour and the surreal, usually creating layered compositions. Their works usually resolve as video or photography where they themself perform as the subject. Logan exhibited in the IADT student show; **In the making: Mud Between the Toes**, (Pallas Projects/Studios), 2025.
