Dopamine
2023
STATION Gallery
For this exhibition, Bohunnis has turned their attention to the complexities and trappings of pleasure, from both a personal and neuroscientific standpoint. Drawing on their personal history of opioid addiction, Bohunnis delves into the complexities of seeking pleasure safely in a society where dopamine has become a form of currency, and indulgence and abundance are both prioritised and politicised.
The human experience is intricately woven with pleasure and pain, which operate through an opponent process mechanism in the brain: an experience of one automatically triggers the other. However, in its quest to maintain equilibrium, the brain often overcompensates, releasing twice as much of its opposing force. Thus, in the pursuit of pleasure, we unknowingly amplify pain; in our attempts to mask pain, we eventually diminish our ability to endure it.
In form, Bohunnis’ work often leans toward the abject as a way of negotiating bodily and political identities. Bohunnis’ new series of greyscale prints and digital collages depict imagined and abstracted networks that represent the channels, synapses, glands and energy sites where these intricate chemical processes take place. In the centre of the gallery space, an installation of sculptural forms with sodden and slumped marble and silicone extrusions takes centre stage – a tangible reminder of the fragile equilibrium required to achieve true balance.
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Patrice Sharkey, Eva Gräbeldinger and Michelle Nikou for your multitudes of support and care. Thank you Ryan Campbell, Brent Quilliam and George Street Studios for generously guiding me through new materials and answering every question.
The prints were developed and produced at Frans Masereel Centrum in Belgium. Thank you Frans Masereel Centrum for hosting me and thank you to The Ian Potter Foundation and Arts South Australia for funding the residency. This project was generously supported by The Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. And finally, a big thank to STATION.
Photo: Simon Strong
Anhedonia
2023
Silicone, marble, stainless steel
1900 x 1200 x 900 mm
Hedonic Balance
2023
Stainless steel, silicone , marble
500 x 1380 x 2050 mm
Hyperalgesia
2023
Stainless steel, silicone, marble
2480 x 360 x 980 mm