Something Hallucinated is a collection of surreal watercolor paintings by Harmony Witte that depict a series of hallucinations experienced over the course of nearly a decade. The show will be on display at Shoe Bones Gallery in Salem MA from Jan. 20th-Feb 22nd, 2024. Harmony used AI to create the sketches for the paintings, feeding it descriptions of their hallucinations and adding an element of chance to the process, producing work that feels both alien and unexpected. Pulling meaning out of noise, mirroring the unsettling experience of having the hallucinations.
This show aims to de-stigmatize mental illness and open the way for conversations about psychosis, and those bizarre things that many people have seen at least once in their lives that makes them question reality. Lots of people have had the feeling that they were being watched as they go about their business–what does it mean to be able to see the watchers? Are these experiences a glimpse into some unseen reality or simply a symptom of improperly medicated bipolar disorder and uncontrolled grief? This show asks where is the line between accepted reality and hallucination?
Shoe Bones is a hybrid creative space in Salem, MA. As an art gallery, consignment shop, microcinema, and event space, Shoe Bones seeks to platform underrepresented, radical, queer, and self- taught artists and their visions. While they specialize in queer and outsider art, their primary goal is to provide an alternative to the commercial art gallery that brings connections to marginalized artists and art-lovers whose creative needs and tastes often go unmet and unsatisfied.
