My Top Take-away from BORA’s Vice Chancellor Talk

The dream journal they showcased on their presentation during the talk particularly interested me as one's dreams are a highly personal thing, so getting a glimpse into BORA's phenomenally ingenious and abstract mind was awe inspiring. They likened their dreams to the stories that they were told as a child; being made aware of the stereotypical hero and villain dynamic at a young age stirred different emotions for them as the corruption of the villains begged the question as to whether "this fear can be transformed and confronted". In BORA's case, this was a vital value that accelerated their motivation to make controversial art pieces with the aim of provoking a mixture of feelings from the onlookers - one being their exploration of fantasies through 3D printing their 'Soft Creatures' collection of animations in 2023. The one I found the most compelling was the creature 'Care Taker'; the context behind BORA's reasoning for creating this particular art piece was to stress the importance of mental health in connection to art. The story of the Care Taker: they were propelled from Earth due to the immense mistreatment from humans so they took it upon themselves to heal and soon grew to realise they wanted others to heal also - hence BORA's intelligent inclusion of the two teardrops on each of the hands. BORA referred to this creature as an 'unhealed healer' which spoke volumes; for me personally, I related heavily to this character as I'm sure a lot of people in the audience did as well due to everyone having their own story.