Who’s Afraid of the Dark?

Caressa Layne on the Work of Katie Baker, Editor’s Choice Winner for Issue 2 of Rawhead Journal.

To draw from memory is its own kind of myth-making. To create a visual representation of the experience is to resist the pressure of the here-and-now and draw from someplace else. Memory is not history. It lingers within us. Katie Baker’s drawings captures not only the nostalgia of childhood bedtime, but the mute dread and expectation of the dark. Far from overt wistfulness, her drawings subject the viewer to a reminiscence of the pulse-bumping fear of jump-to-the-bed-before-it-gets-you. However, it makes no difference what it is. Allowing the setting to immerse the viewer in the raw emotionality, Baker offers no object of fear.

READ THE FULL ESSAY ON Rawhead Journal: Issue 2.