I haven’t been well recently and the idea of a placebo has taken on a new dimension for me while I try and self-heal. As I’ve been doing further research into the placebo effect I’ve discovered another effect, the nocebo effect.
The nocebo effect is a “detrimental effect on health produced by psychological or psychosomatic factors such as negative expectations of treatment or prognosis”. I intend to research this concept further and it’ll hopefully inform my next pieces for the Handshake 4 Toi Pōneke show next year.
There is something dark and tense about this effect with its negative outcomes which I think could be interesting to explore.
Jasmine Togo-Brisby’s work Bitter Sweet (2015), which is currently on show at the City Gallery: Wellington, is having an influence on my thoughts with its intense beauty, tension and use of the body to convey a message.