Claire Hooper: The Blessing

The art gallery featured at the posh restaurant, Sketch was the work of Claire Hooper entitled, The Blessing. Here, there was a panoramic view of 12 screens that featured the film that Hooper had created. The film begins with the main character in a room viewing a piece of art, when suddenly he breaks out into a violent seizure. Subsequently the film shows a supernova, an explosion of a star. It is possibly caused by a gravitational collapse that emits light from 10-100 million times that of the Sun. Similarly, the character’s seizure is having an explosion within his body. The epileptic seizure is a medical condition involving abnormal electrical discharge in the brain is characterized by periodic loss of consciousness. Furthermore, the supernova appears to be distant from the planet Earth, somewhere in the universe. This place is in the universe could potentially be a divine heaven created by the imagination which leads the human closer to a spiritual world. The luminosity created from the supernova is analogous to the appearance of a deity where the light blinds the person. One person who Hooper is influenced by is Saint Teresa of Avila. She quotes her, “My soul has been carried away, and usually my head as well, without being able to prevent it; and sometimes it has affected my whole body, which has been lifted off the ground”. This directly relates to the character, since he is unable to prevent his epileptic seizure. Therefore, his body and mind have been lifted to a different place, away from the real world. Also, the various colors created from the supernova are images that often result of acid trips. The screens sporadically show the film and this is connected because of the convulsions caused by the seizure. Hooper is making it more difficult to focus on the film because there are multiple scenes being displayed simultaneously. This piece of art allows the viewer insight to the mind of those wanting to reach the divinity in another world.