Invisibility, dreamy atmosphere, abstraction, and spectral presence in some of Francesca Bonfatti's self-portraits
A Cognitive Spatial Approach
Dr. Mohammed Sameer Abd Elsalam
In a collection of self-portraits (1), the Italian performance artist and poet Francesca Bonfatti creates a discourse based on the connection between the multiple possible mental representations, which lie in the external embodiment of the self, and the internal visual mental representations that can be assumed based on indications of context; The artist's discourse also reinforces the multiplicity of spatial layers in the image or performance practice. It mixes embodiment, light, and darkness; This is why the internal visual mental representation of the self is mixed with the sign of invisibility in the structure of the place, so the place is not one; It intersects the spaces of a new modernity, the ancient gothic spaces, the spaces of daydreaming, fantasy, and the vast cosmic or virtual spaces that we deduce from the placement of hands on the face, or the overlapping of parts of space with the face, or the closed, contemplative eyes.
And because the artist always refers us to representations of consciousness and the unconscious, contact with stories of the past or possible metaphorical contact with the history of art and its personalities, and the celebration of the energy of femininity according to an existential and dynamic connotation in progress; The discourse assumes, then, a kind of hidden and active narration in the scene, along with the plurality of visual self-representations. It also assumes the intersection of voices from the past and the present within the interaction of stories assumed by body language, placing the self in a specific embodiment within the layers of place, and relative visual context indicators in each image.
The discourse is not separated from the transformations of the dynamic cultural power relations. Such as the interaction between the concepts of authenticity, the renewal of the impact of the past, the spectral presence in a metaphorical way, and the rise of metaphorical relative forms of female self-presence within wide spatial cognitive interactions, and according to the privacy of representations of creative consciousness, or the unconscious according to its broad contemporary meaning. I see that Francesca's Harmony of discourse stems from the relationship between the act of imagining, the renewal of signs of memory, the renewed ascent towards self-light, or the potential spiritual authenticity that reminds me of Carl Jung's conception of archetypes of the spiritual journey; That is why we see, within the plurality of visual representations, the relative existential female realization, the deferred horror, the fictional dramatic narrative dialogue, the power of ascent towards reflections, or the inner radiance that falls within the field of working memory in the structure of presence, which differs from the memories of the past transferred from long-term memory; Therefore, according to Francesca, the harmony lies in the link between representations and spaces, according to the difference or harmony between the interpretations of the representations.
Context, social situation, and Relevance:
Francesca paints representations of the self within a broad cultural context that includes the expansion of concepts of consciousness, the unconscious, historical and spiritual depth, transcendental postmodern perceptions, and the juxtaposition of real, imaginary, hypothetical, and dramatic visual layers; Hence a single mental representation of the self opens up a range of possible subjective and spectral reflections in the scene; We do not see the historical self centrally in the picture or scene; However, we see a mental representation that the historical subject tries to bring out in front of the camera. Hence, we are faced with an experimental mental representation, which opens the multiplication of many visual mental representations according to the context indicators in each image.
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Francesca Bonfatti puts the viewer in front of the narrative mixing between representations and their interpretations, as well as placing him within an experimental spatial reference that allows the scene to be imagined within the interaction of multiple transient spaces of time.
And if we read the self-portraits according to the theory of relevance according to Sperber and Wilson, we will notice the repetition of the importance of the perceptual contextual indicator related to light, darkness, and non-central invisibility in visual representation or self-embodiment. The inferential expansion and the production of arguments between the artist and the viewer will be based on the organic-expressive relationship between self-representations, the degree of presence of light and darkness, the fantasy of the place, and the degree of disappearance or appearance of parts of the face or the representational composition.
I believe that the main deductive argument in this context will be based on the relative validity of the hypothesis of self-connection at the moment of presence with possible internal explanatory mental representations, and then the self plays the role of producer and observer of the metaphorical explanatory mental image, and the result will be the expansion of the production of visual representations in the present structure which will be more dynamic in the future.
Critical approaches:
In this context, I would like to refer to the critical approaches by which I will interpret some of Francesca Bonfatti's self-portraits; They relate to contemporary conceptual expansions of consciousness and the unconscious, cognitive approaches, and some renewed notions of authenticity, horror, and feminine signs. At the end of the study, I will refer to some contemporary spatial approaches and their impact on reading the possible layers of place and the relationship between personal representations.
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In their study, Compensatory Automaticity: Unconscious Volition Is Not an Oxymoron, in The New Unconcious, 2005, Jack Glaser and John F. Kihlstrom suggest a new subconscious connection to intention and goals capture in a metacognitive way through the act of self-monitoring; This is why the contemporary broad concept of the unconscious is paradoxically related to awareness (2)
This contemporary concept of the connection of self-monitoring with the unconscious gives us the ability to interpret Francesca's portraits as mental representations in which consciousness and the unconscious operate to a large and relative degree according to the state of mind and context. In my study, I will focus only on the mental states closest to invisibility, or the silhouette visual representation of being, or abstraction such as abstracting the hair sign in a semicircle, or the signs of self-merging with the layers of place, or the visual representation of the state of spiritual ascension; Because this visual data penetrates more into the metaphorical presence closer to the new relationship between the unconscious and the awareness.
I, too, will methodically draw upon Joulia Smortchkova's and Michael Murez's concept of maximal mental representation that provides traits across all possible descriptive levels; They put forward this hypothesis in their study of representational kinds in the book Mental Representations in 2020 (3)
The representational maximum provides the possibility of reading the possible historical, metaphorical, and spectral levels and internal mental images of the character according to the context, the spatial reference, and the dynamics of consciousness and unconsciousness relationships in the scene.
I also will methodically use the cognitive results of The Global Neuronal Workspace Model of Conscious Access according to the efforts of both Stanislas Dehaene, Jean-Pierre Changeux, and Lionel Naccache, and what it implies in producing interpretations and decisions through the convergence of conscious processors, and through the dynamic relationship between the data that attracts attention, evaluation, memory, sensory perception of the present, and expected responses in the future.(4)
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The theory helps us understand the effect of memory and presence, self-image, and its embodiment in visual mental representations expected in the future in the possibilities of a single scene.
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I will also use the concept of cognitive metaphor to read two possible mental representations of the self, for example; The perceptual metaphor goes back to the efforts of Lakoff, Johnson, Faulconnier, and Mark Turner on the cognitive blended space.
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As for the cultural depth of horror rooted in global culture, it was found within Julia Kristeva's study entitled The Powers of Horror; In it, she referred to the connection of the power of horror with a possible void in the formation, referring to the context of Oedipus's state after his discovery of the truth. (5)
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We will see in some of Francesca's portraits a void in place of the face, a tender white color over the female figure, or a figure resembling a mannequin without a head and without full hands; They are mental representations that refer to horror and exhaust the centrality of horror through the originality inherent in the contextual indicator of the circle, the hidden abstract arc, or the connotation of the metaphorical feminine rebirth implied in the discourse.
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As for female visions, I refer here to the selection of ideas of female linguistic explanatory expansion, the act of metaphorical flight, and the transcendence of the centrality of incarnation in Helen Cixous's discourse within her study titled The Laugh of The Medusa.(6) And also to the relativity of female discourse and its connection to the speaking self within the act of communication of Toril Moi in her study titled, I am not a Woman Writer. (7)
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Thus, we see some of the metaphorical female signs that fall within a relative continuity in Francesca's portraits. The restricted hand is related to metaphorical freedom, reading history, and referring the viewer in the act of communication to the development of his being in the same space of individual spiritual realization in the scene.
Also, I want to refer that I chose the more spectral, invisible, or abstract portraits of Francisca due to their harmony with the process of reproducing semantics between the consciousness of the artist and the critical thought of the critic.
Visual lexicon
Visual data and its internal mental representations are most present in Francesca's portraits. And the discourse also assumes the existence of audio data and linguistic data or a specific voice layer within the cosmic, aesthetic, and artistic state.
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As I have indicated before, I shall choose only to study the visual information and internal representations concerning the relationship between invisibility and embodiment; Such as blending the face with space, blending embodiment with emptiness, similarity with the mannequin, focus on shadow, dramatic play of shadows in a narrative visual scene some times, the relationship of an embodiment with light and darkness, focus on the sign of the hand, or the abstraction behind the sign of the hair, or the doubling of the face, or the mystical existence via white, gothic spatial layer or dense experimental abstraction; Or the sign of a strained eye, or a daydreaming eye, or a sign of a spiritual ascent upward in the scene. Only these signs fit my cognitive-spatial study; Because it is closer to the spirit of imagination, simulacrum, the dynamism of mental representation, and hidden rhetorical contact with some literary characters.
Dream Atmospheres, Archetypes, and Self-monitoring of the Act of Ascension
If we re-read some of the internal mental representations of the self in Francesca's work, we will notice the mixture between the atmosphere of the dream, the models of the spiritual journey as it is in Carl Jung, and the conscious observation of the self during the journey of ascent; This mixing seemed clear in her work, which embodies an intention to ascend towards the internal, spatial, and spiritual light through the orientation of the representation of the body towards the vast cosmic space, but we are still inside a surreal atmosphere, in which the logical links seem deconstructed through the signs of the intertwining threads, light, and the dark color of clothing, compatible with withdrawal into deep subconscious images in the scene.
The inner mental representation of the self appears within the logic of the dream when the self appears veiled in the darkness, standing on a stair that suggests the deep pictorial level of the unconscious, and at the top of the stair appears the dim light that confirms the dreamy-gothic presence of the self in the scene; I would like to recover here Jacques Derrida's discourse on the spectral presence connection to the process of self-representation in a film, artwork, or intellectual practice within his interview on the ghost dance; When he represents himself, he opens a space for the ghost to enter the scene; Hence, Francesca, when she hides the incarnation within the dream atmosphere, allows the double spectral presence to exist and be effective within a wide gothic space that falls within the spatial layers of the dream. Consciousness exercises the act of observing this presence in order to anticipate the union of the self with the light or the act of spiritual ascent towards the light as a relevant indicator, and the future of the self can only be understood through it. The self watches her unconscious existence between two intertwined and interacting worlds and performs the double role via alternation between occultation, spectral presence, and union with the inner light.
Horror, metaphorical presence, and Recovering the inner light:
If we recover Kristeva's discourse on the powers of horror inherent in the division, and its relationship to embodiment, place, and femininity in the analysis of the Oedipus myth; We will observe the frequency of such a metaphorical division in Francesca's portrait, which embodies the female mannequin mixed with emptiness; It expresses feminine energy striving for imaginary completeness; Or it establishes the quest for the powers of authenticity and revival through the pure white color, while delving into the formal horror inherent in the eye sign that refers us to the dream atmosphere; I see that the scene calls for a kind of semiotic transference and dialogue. The mannequin is related to other dreamy images of the self, which explores the inner light and is related to a kind of imaginary dialogue that assumes a relationship between the spectra of art and artistic paintings in a way similar to the imaginary museum that André Malraux referred to in his book The Voices of Silence. Here we hear the unconscious cry of the female mannequin, while she is also in a state of anticipation of future joy, or as she is making a dialogue within the dreamy virtual space; It also relates to literary figures such as the expressive mannequin composition in Alain Robbe-Grillet's The Mannequin in his book titled Snapshots; Hence the female mannequin is caught between the powers of horror, revival, and discovering the inner light in the future.
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We also witness the mixture of horror with amazement, and the deep dreamy reflections behind the signs of open, naked, tired eyes; It relates to long-term memory, the memory of potential division in texts of literature and cultural heritage; It assumes within its own composition a kind of concealment from the dreamy mental representations of the past itself, and assumes a return to the introspection of the inner world within the structure of presence and the signs stored in working memory about its renewed incarnation as an allegorical work of art within a state of hyper-awareness in the structure of present moment.
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As for the internal mental representation related to the female formation hidden behind a white cover, it suggests the horror of absurd waiting, non-central or delayed waiting, and then indicates the transcendence of that waiting towards imagining another self or another metaphorical mental representation that performs a continuous dynamic process of replacing the embodied or veiled formation through indicators of contextual- perceptual relevance, like white, light, and feminine energy as a possible simulacrum behind the scene.
Shadow, narrative, and drama included in the discourse:
Silhouette representations are frequent in Francesca Bonfatti's work; It confirms the idea of a possible spectral presence as an interpretive reading of being, a reading related to creative consciousness, and the existence of the self within a work of art, as Derrida indicated in the Ghost Dance; The relationship between the shadows within a narrative structure came in three snapshots that indicate the development of the functions of the narrative, and the existence of a dreamy logical relationship between the narrative units towards a possible dramatic event. This event involves a kind of experimentation in the personal reference of oneself and the other in the scene. The self is mixed with shadow and spectral presence, and the other stems from representations of history or memory or images of art and its overlapping personalities and their possible voices or stories behind the scene.
The cognitive metaphor between the mysterious historical presence and the hyper-aesthetic presence:
Francesca puts us in front of a side portrait of the face, which seems connected to the historical self, but in a mystic way that is achieved through indicators of contextual perceptual relevance such as the closed eyes, dreamy or virtual museum atmosphere, light lighting; Therefore, if we re-read the portrait according to the concept of the cognitive metaphor, the mental spaces, and the perceptual blended space according to the efforts of Lakoff, Johnson, Fokonier, and Mark Turner; The general space will become the space of the artistic- historical presence; The first input space will become the self in the space between the historical presence and the artistic presence. The second input space will be the self within a hyper-aesthetic and spiritual presence; The two mental spaces will relate to perceptual-semantic similarities such as the artistic-historical mystery, the possible museum dream atmosphere in the deep spatial layer, and the effectiveness of the creative consciousness through the reflections of the inner eye. As for the perceptual blended space, it will be formed through the overlap between the self, possible imaginary representations, and art characters through a dream window located between the inner world and the possible museum space.
In this context, I would also like to re-read Francesca's side portrait through the results of the global neural workspace theory of conscious access, which I have referred to methodologically before. At first, we note that the image of the self as visual data that combines the historical and the metaphorical increases attention through its relationship to the mystic spatial reference between the real and the atmosphere of the art museum or the atmosphere of a dream. Behind closed eyes the self hides the activity of events retrieved from long-term memory, mixed with unconscious dream images, while we can read the self dynamically in the continuous forming and close to the dream or the painting within the activity of working memory; Hence, the act of evaluation will tend to favor the artistic or hybrid reading of the self in the scene or its appearance as a ranged and overlapping collection of internal mental representations; As for the presence area, it appears in the sensory perception of the self's relationship to light and darkness in a double experimental spatial reference. Hence, the expected response in the future will be to explore new spectral, artistic, and dreamy images of self-representation. Conscious processors in the global neural workspace will converge toward promoting an interpretive approach that is based on the perceptual blending of the aesthetic image and the recording image at the same time.
Consciousness and narrative becoming
Francesca's facial representations may be repeated in a single snapshot; This indicates the multiplication of potential subconscious mental images and representations in the present and the future. I would like to read this portrait through global neural workspace theory according to the efforts of Stanislas Dehaene, Jean-Pierre Changeux, and Lionel Naccache.;
Consequently, we will start with the most striking visual data. It is the second esoteric or metaphorical mental representation of the face; It is a more transparent representation than the first in terms of embodiment and light, then the basic mental representation of the face, and it also accepts multiplication, that is, it is inseparable from the sounds of the past and the recovered sounds of art; This primary aspect will be close to the signs of long-term memory, while the imaginary aspect will be close to the working memory data most present in the representational or spectral art scene, and will be the closest to preference in the evaluation level; As for the sensory perceptions in the structure of the presence, it will be based on the relationship between the ambiguous embodiment in the white light, and the possibility of multiplication based on the poetic spaces in the first embodiment, and the expected responses or actions in the future will be the production of possible mental images and the production of decisions related to the problematic of self-narrative development; Thus, conscious processors in the global space will converge towards enhancing the decision of dynamic narrative development within abundant perceptual blended spaces and possible creative semiotic transferences.
Some spatial approaches:
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Here I would like to use some contemporary spatial approaches, especially the fantasy-spatial expansion of Robert Talley JR, the metaphorical spatial margin of Bertrand Westphal, and the spatial relations between potential characters of Franco Muretti. We note, for example, that Francesca portrays the self as darkly integrated within a dense virtual or fantasy spatial layer; It indicates the aesthetic spatial expansion of the imaginary layers of the body and the deep spatial layers that connect and separate from the real at the same time or put us in front of the shadow index in order to suggest the presence of a dreamy or semi-Gothic metaphorical margin within the maps of new modernity; As for the relationship between the characters, here it is not a relationship between opposing personalities, but rather a dynamic spatial relationship between the present visual statement, which is highly artistic, and the second visual statement, which is related to long-term memory, and the third visual statement, which lies between working memory and narrative development, and the fourth visual statement, which is related to the history of literature and art; For example, when we re-receive the painting Ophelia, there is a possible blending with the fourth visual representation behind the scene.
Some details of the spatial network of representations
Because Francesca's discourse includes narration and the narrative process of possible self-representations produced by consciousness and the unconscious, we will be inspired by the spatial network model according to Franco Muretti's effort, but in the experimental aesthetic relationship between the internal mental representations that are most frequent in Francesca's discourse.
The spatial network schema will consist of a head in the middle of the network, which represents the basic mental representation, which is a metaphorical-historical-dynamic representation, and is found within the working memory activity at the moment the image is created, and it is also supposed to be within the visual data that form the viewer's attention and working memory at the moments of viewing. It is a basic mental representation, but it accepts the development, change, semiotic transference, multiplication, and reconstruction of interpretations and arguments by potential viewers in the future.
As for the remaining internal mental representations of the self, they are hypothetical, and we infer them from the contextual indicators within the image; The first hypothetical mental representation, for example, will be recovered from long-term memory, and it is represented in the imaginations of invisibility and some of the formative spaces and is indicated by the contextual indicator of the spatial dark areas and their degrees of expansion in the scene.
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As for the second hypothetical mental representation, it is close to the structure of the presence or the immediate moment in the production of the image. It is a spectral-representative-literary-narrative-silhouette, and it re-enacts the self within a museum atmosphere. It reminds us once again of Malraux's discourse on the voices of silence, and Derrida's talk (8) about the possible spectral representation of the self within a cinematic film, and is indicated by the transparent or shadowy intra-contextual indicator, which is a contextual creative indicator. Also, it is close to the artistic worlds, and the lives of artistic characters who transcend times, places, and borders, who keep a spectral renewable energy that lies between the self and the other.
The third hypothetical mental representation relates to the future, indicated by the contextual cues of doubling or intense light on areas of the face; It is an inner virtual visual representation that points to the rebirth of the singular female self in the future; It is a representation approaching the historical-metaphorical-dreamy mixed with the void that includes a dynamic richness of possible and overlapping signs and representations in the future.
We can infer these three points from the spatial network analysis of the representations:
First: Spatial vision reveals the plurality of representations, their dynamism, and their spatial connection that transcends narrative boundaries. The self develops narratively, but the representations interact in a continuous creative spatial way in the scene. The spectral self, for example, remains active and transient to the narrative development, that is, it remains connected to the basic historical metaphorical formation according to the spatial relationship.
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Second: spectral virtual representation or possible virtual representation cannot be removed; Because they represent existential interpretations, the self can only be read through them within the activity of working memory and the global neurological work area in the brain, according to the conscious access model that we referred to methodologically at the beginning.
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Third: The links and the lines within the network schema will be drawn by strong black lines between the representations, and the thick black lines will indicate the true connection between the representations, interpretations, and arguments drawn from them. As for the dashed lines, they will refer within the spatial network to the dreamy and imaginary connections between representations at a deeper level, approaching the images of the unconscious and dreams.
Before ending my study, I would like to point out that Francesca employed the soft and calm rhythm of her soprano voice in speaking some linguistic data that refer contextually to ascension, change, and the discovery of the inner light. This is suitable for this degree of the soprano, which combines the feminine energy less intense than the high soprano with the deep mental nature within the activity of consciousness and the subconscious behind the scene.
Finally, I would like to point out the importance of the aspect of abstraction in Francesca Bonfatti's work. There are potential geometric relationships that enhance the arc or circle or between the two forces of divergence and convergence between abstract mental representations embodied only in locks of hair, which is a feature of experimentation in her creative project.
Notes:
(1)The website of the artist Francesca Bonfatti
(2)Read, Jack Glaser and John F. Kihlstrom, Compensatory Automaticity: Unconscious Volition Is Not an Oxymoron, in The New Unconcious, Edited by: Ran R. Hassin, James S. Uleman, and John A. Bargh, Oxford University Press, 2005, p.p 189, 190.
(3)Read, Joulia Smortchkova and Michael Murez, Representational Kinds, p. 20 on philpapers at:
(4)Read, Stanislas Dehaene, Jean-Pierre Changeux, and Lionel Naccache, The Global Neuronal Workspace Model of Conscious Access, on Research Gate at:
(5)Read, JULIA KRISTEVA, The powers of Horror, Translated by LEON S. ROUDIEZ, Colombia University Press, New York, 1982, p.p 85, 86
(6)Read, Helene, Cixous, The Laugh of The Medusa, translated by: Keith Cohen https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/66416/mod_resource/content/1/cixous-the-laugh-of-the-medusa.pdf
(7)Read, Toril Moi, I'm Not A Woman Writer, at:
(8) Watch, Derrida, The Ghost Dance at:
Dr. Mohammed Sameer Abd Elsalam
Literary Critic, Art Critic, Story Writer, and Graphic Designer