Somnarium

By Veronica Park

On average, we spend about two hours a night within our dream worlds, only to lose the memory of those spaces within seconds after waking up. In the Somnarium (from the Latin somnium – a dream – and terrarium), Veronica Park presents a terrarium of dreams, where the inhabitants are uncanny specters that cannot exist in everyday reality.     

The Somnarium is an ethereal home to four biomes, each reflecting complexities of biology and the human psyche. Dreaming allows us to tap into our subconscious mind, exposing us to new ideas beyond our waking comprehension. Through surreal illustrations of nature, Park exhibits the whimsical creations within her subconscious by combining everyday flora and fauna to craft evolved hybrids. These new forms of life explore the interconnections of life across biology and time, and reminds us how the emotion and absurdity of the subconscious can be a vehicle for creative thinking.