Fear of horses : a mirror of the psyche

Abstract

For the Fear of Horses series, I photographed and painted horses. I felt like revisiting the feeling of an idealized animal friend encountered in many books and television series of my childhood and youth, which offered an unforgettable adventure in the English countryside. These stories often presented interaction with horses as preferable over human communication, as there was no need for words. The dream of keeping horses had prevailed, even though real encounters with these huge animals had shattered the illusion of perfect harmony between our two species. I studied how my attitudes, especially my fear of real horses, would change as I painted them, as they truly differed from the idealised fictional characters I had been longing for.

The Fear of Horses series explores the psychological aspects of fearing horses, blending traditional painting techniques with photography to evoke the sensory and emotional experiences inherent in human-animal encounters. Drawing on the concept of "Umwelt”, a term denoting the distinct perceptual world of a species, the work examines how fear shapes one’s subjective reality, using the horse as a potent symbol of power, unpredictability, and instinct. The Fear of Horses series reflects my journey of translating intuitive ideas into tangible forms. Through exhibiting this series, I wanted to invite viewers to confront their own perceptual boundaries, questioning the intersections of fear, nature, and self-awareness.