Fear, Illustrated

The Fear Project is a visually stunning, light-hearted, and compelling visual exploration of the fears people confront in their daily lives. For many years artist Julie Elman has collected common and not-so-common fears people have shared with her. Elman transforms the fears from words into multi-media collages full of color and intensity. The fears include death, failure, losing a child, losing one’s voice, losing one’s mind, centipedes in the shower, needles, cancer, speaking honestly with one’s spouse, seaweed, getting arrested at Disney World, biscuits and clusters of small holes. The resulting work presents a wide range of emotions while subtly endorsing the spirit of confronting, releasing, and moving on from fears. “I have learned that ‘Onward! ’ is a word with a lot of power behind it, ” writes Elman. When presented with these tangible interpretations of our deep fears, we will often feel less burdened by them. Fear is a universal emotion; this is an inviting, visually arresting, and unusually light-hearted treatment. Those looking for an antidote to the news or a follow-up to Humans of New York will appreciate Elman’s quirky, magnetic, uplifting images.