Pavel Dornak

Pavel Dornak

Domestic Fairytales

This series of images represents the challenge of the visual representation of the written word. The reading of a proverb or saying creates an immediate image within the minds eye. Therefore, the written word on the page is something I wanted to reproduce in the physicality of the image on paper. The use of film as the medium as opposed to digital creates authenticity.
The exploration of humour and wit contained within these proverbs transcends cultural interpretations, and is, I feel, the very reason they do. It is this that I saw as the challenge in their visual representation. I wanted to take proverbs that I have come across relevant to my own cultural experience, thus relevant to me and to recreate that within the image.
All three proverbs have a connection in that they carry a psychological relevance in present day culture, the fear of mice invading the domestic setting, the taboo of wetting the bed and the fear of being “nailed” down for standing out from the crowd.
Proverbs have become incorporated into everyday language, diluted almost. For example, within the English language the term “you are gonna get nailed for that” inferring you have done something which you are going to get in trouble for or have been “caught out” is a common saying in colloquial language. It is this dilution and how it is applied in everyday language that keeps proverbs alive in some ways. Proverbs can also have several meanings, both to the individual and different cultures; the challenge was to recreate immediacy in my images.