Sarah Marks – Honors Exhibition

Sarah Marks

After Image: Shadow and Dream

April 20 – April 23, 2026

Honor’s Thesis Exhibition – Mezzanine Gallery

As the body rests and the eyes close, darkness gathers unresolved images, situations, and emotions and rearranges them into new forms. This creates a space where memory and instinct can surface beyond the limits of our conscious selves. Dreams do not always present themselves clearly. Instead they often emerge as fragments, symbols, and sensations that can linger even after we wake up. Psychologist Carl Jung described dreams as a meeting place for the conscious and unconscious mind. Here, hidden and unrecognizable parts of ourselves emerge. He referred to these unseen aspects as the shadow, a psychological presence that is made up of thoughts, instincts, and past experiences that exist far beyond our awareness. While the shadow can easily be associated with darkness, it should not be looked at in a negative light. It represents the unknown parts of ourselves and the opportunity to begin the deep, introspective process of self discovery.

AfterImage: Shadow and Dream, explores this interior psychological space through symbolic imagery drawn from dreams, memory, and relationships. The works in this exhibition are not illustrations of specific dreams, they are visual interpretations of the impressions that may remain after dreaming. Like an afterimage that lingers behind the eye after looking at light, these
forms can persist in the mind after waking and quietly shape our perception and emotions. In the works, recurring motifs such as animals, repetition, and shadowed silhouettes, inhabit transitional spaces to suggest cycles of image and memory and the transformation that can follow. These images draw inspiration from universal symbols that can resonate across generations, highlighting shared human experiences such as relationships, fear, and vulnerability. Figures are used to show the psychological forces tied to intuition and protection and interiors are used to show the depths of the mind and the spaces in which these dreams unfold. This exhibition was created to unpack what remains after a dream fades, and how unseen
parts of ourselves continue to influence our behaviors and manifest in our physical world. Images formed in darkness can carry meaning into our waking lives, inviting us to explore them more deeply.

Artist Bio:

Sarah Marks is a multidisciplinary artist from Gulf Breeze, Florida. She is currently a senior at Wake Forest University with a double major in Studio Art and Psychology. Her work is influenced by her interest in analytical psychology, dream interpretation, and art therapy. The process of observing and reflecting on her dreams became the foundation for her current body of work, which explores the relationship between inner experience and visual expression.