Welcome to the Gallery

Hello!

Welcome to my senior capstone project: Nothing To Fear.

Nothing To Fear is a multimedia gallery installation exploring themes of fear, introspection, growth, and courage, using different phobias as thematic keystones for a series of interlinked illustrations and short narrative prose pieces. The piece was originally intended to be displayed in both a physical gallery installation, and an online hypertext gallery designed in Twine, but recent events have pushed it to an online-only format. It incorporates illustration, text, and audio for a multimedia and multi-sensory experience.

I am, by nature, someone who is afraid of a wide variety of things. Some within reason, some not. Because ‘fear’ and the state of being afraid are such constants in my life, I wanted to create a space in which to explore the shapes and sources of those feelings more deeply. However, I wanted that space to also feel safe, both to me and to the viewers I hope to share it with, so I have done my best to implement various content warnings, checkpoints, and descriptions to make the Gallery feel unnatural without being dangerous.

This installation is titled ‘Nothing To Fear’ because while we cannot stop ourselves from being afraid, I feel that learning about and coming to terms with our fears can enable us to grow stronger in spite of them, or even because of them. It is not a sign of weakness to have fear, because it is only by pushing through fear that we can be brave.

I may never stop being afraid, but I hope that one day I will find that courage for myself.

-Merlin A. Reitzes, 24 May 2020

To enter the Gallery, please download the HTML file from the link below, and open it in the browser of your choice.
Note: Unfortunately, this won’t work on a phone, and I am unsure about tablets. A desktop or laptop computer is your best bet. Hopefully, in the future, I will find a way to host the Gallery directly on a webpage, so please be patient until that time!

Most recent update: May 30th, 2020.

Download The Gallery: Nothing To Fear

You can also see the Gallery artwork by itself here, and listen to the audio tracks here!

Artwork CW: Nudity, gore, body horror
Audio CW: [to be added - I don’t remember at this moment what I wrote]