Rika Nakane (she/her) is currently a third year student at School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), studying in the Art Therapy and Counseling program. Rika was born in Japan and she briefly lived in the suburbs of Chicago during her childhood. After graduating with her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Studio Art from University of Toronto, she moved to Chicago again for her graduate education. Nakane feels connected to bell hooks’ quote, “Rarely if ever are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion”. Her current work as an intern at Midwest Asian Health Association is grounded in trauma-informed approaches and making spaces for community healing. She views her art practice as a documentation of the relationship between her identity, her emotional state, her experiences, and her body. Outside of school, Rika loves to perform, nap, and doodle.
Pillow #1, 2024, Acrylic paint, yarn, beads, dyed cloth on pillow case, under a light
Pillow #2, 2024, Yarn stitched through a pillow case
Pillow #2, 2024, Yarn, string, beads, dyed cloth on pillow case
Pillow #3, 2024, Paint stick, string, perler beads, dyed cloth on pillow case
Most mornings, I wake up with relief. Ever since I can remember, I have dreamt countless times about apocalypses, war, murder, and destruction. As the following day goes on, the details of the dreams and the imagery would fade, but what ultimately remains is the feeling. Right before the pandemic began, I started writing down all of the dreams that I had, regardless of what kind of dream or how insignificant the dream may feel. Around the same time, I was also building my art practice where I began to incorporate some of the imagery and themes from my catastrophic dreams.
For this project, I decided to explore how art-making can process catastrophic dreams. What is something that I am not able to process, but comes out in my dreams? How do these dreams channel one way to the unconscious and help me? How can I make sense of what the unconscious is trying to tell me? I believe that addressing, exploring, and confronting my dreams – especially ones logged between 2020 until the present – will address how I am processing life not just personally, but also globally and politically as well. As an artist and an art therapist, I intend to gain a further understanding of my dreams, my therapeutic practice, my creative process, and myself by the end of this research.