This Film Installation Offers an Intimate Experience of “Trauma, Recovery and the Mind’s Ability to Rewire Itself”

Tanya Goehring is a longtime Vanmag photographer—she’s the one snapping the beautiful portraits and home shots we feature in our Personal Space series each month, and is responsible for many of our iconic cover images (Phil Wizard!) But I guess we’re not keeping her busy enough because she and life/artistic partner Trevor Jacobson launched a compelling new art exhibit last week at VIVO Media—a cinematic project they’ve been working on for years.

Together, Goehring and Jacobson work under the name The Automatic Message, and their new four-channel film installation with immersive soundtrack is called EMDR, and the spatial cinematic piece aims to capture the surreal experience of healing from PTSD. Dance artist Daria Mikhaylyuk brought the duo’s vision to life as the protagonist in the 60-minute, multi-screen looping piece.

The show is inspired by Jacobson’s own experience with post-traumatic stress disorder, after a life-threatening accident as a teenager. He grew up and into his 40s struggling with the after effects of the event, but his recent use of EDMR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) has been life-changing—so much so that he and Goehring were moved to capture the experience through their photo and video work.

The installation offers “a hypnotic exploration of trauma, recovery and the mind’s ability to rewire itself,” write the artists, but it’s also (unsurprisingly) a visually striking experience (and an auditory one, too, thanks to electronic, quadraphonic sound).

We’re always delighted to see someone from the Vanmag fam sharing their talents with the city outside of our pages: you go, Goehring.

EMDR runs now through April 12 at VIVO, with an artist talk on April 12 at 2 p.m. More info about the exhibition here.