Jacklyn Soo

Untitled #2
mixed media on hand-made Korean paper
13 x 17 in.

William Blake introduced the doors of perception in 1790 with a quote that is widely recognized today: If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is: Infinite. –William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is one of William Blake ‘s prophetic books, a series of texts written in imitation of biblical books of prophesy and at the same time expressing Blake’s own intensely personal romantic and revolutionary beliefs.

Here, Blake’s meaning of the doors of perception as something out from the bible is of less concern as to the reason why I chose to take reference from his quote. Instead, I take reference from Blake’s ideology of an inner experience with our subconscious altering our sensory and mind perceptions to create a utopian landscape of altered, deconstructed fantasies that exist from the mind.

References: Children’s book illustrators – Edmund Dulac, Margaret Tarrant, Lorenz Frolich and Oskar Klever, Axel Mathiesen.

© Jacklyn Soo