HYSTERIA

Hysteria constructs a mythological tribe of colossal female figures formed through fragmented photographic and mixed media collage. Merging bodies and identities, the work explores vulnerability, transformation, and the collective female experience.

HYSTERIA
(mixed media photographic works and video installation)

Hysteria constructs a mythological collective of colossal female figures assembled through fragmented photographic and mixed media collage. Combining photography with painting, embroidery, textiles, and layered interventions, the works merge multiple bodies, gestures, and identities into hybrid forms that exist between strength and vulnerability.

Constructed from physically photographed bodies and repeatedly transformed through processes of assembly and rephotographing, the works move between material object and photographic image. No body exists independently; each figure is assembled from a shared archive of photographed limbs and gestures that circulate between works, creating bodies formed through relation rather than autonomy, as if each work were part of an ongoing odyssey between forms.

The figures operate as imagined protectors and provocateurs, shaped by inner conflict, emotional inheritance, transformation, and collective presence. Limbs overlap, bodies dissolve into one another, and individual identities become porous, reflecting instability and interconnected experience. Moving between monumentality and fragility, the work explores how we construct psychological and emotional armour against fear, isolation, and loss, while holding space for power, chaos, tenderness, and rage to coexist.

Rooted in the photographic body yet transformed through material intervention, Hysteria challenges fixed representations of femininity and identity. The series proposes the body as a shifting collective space: fractured, resilient, and continuously reshaped through relation to others.

The project can be presented as a large-scale photographic installation accompanied by projected moving image works.

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Following are links related to the project:

HYSTERIA
2020-present
Website link to the full Hysteria series
https://www.coopergorfer.com/work/hysteria

SIRENS
2024
Website link to a short presentation of the five Sirens video works: Twins with Animals / Satoko Monster / Yellow Satoko / Satoko Arms and Shapes / Shadi and Satoko with Masks
* all works are filmed in camera with no special effects.
https://www.coopergorfer.com/videoworksdocumentaries

THE TWIN ALTAR
2025
link to short documentary following our creation of the large scale mixed media mural work, The Twin Altar.
11:30 min
https://vimeo.com/1099695589