For my sustained engagement project, I created this webpage and a series of visual stylized posters to represent a category of weird fiction inspired by the characters and events we read during the exploration of these topics. The posters are all collage style, made up of multiple images carefully curated and blended together. It was created in photoshop by collecting a series of images I felt represented each category then stylizing them all together to showcase a larger image while all remaining stylistically similar.
This poster I created intended to capture the essence of cosmic horror by emphasizing scale and the unknown. I combined many photos I found of tentacles, squids, water, and space to create a sense of massive scale and something that would be beyond human comprehension. This piece was to convey the insignificance of humanity in the face of the cosmos, which aligns with Lovecraftian themes found in The Call of Cthulhu. By layering in these elements that blur the line between natural and cosmic, the design here reinforces cosmic horror’s unsettling effect. It’s not just that humans are tiny in comparison, but that we are incapable of fully grasping the larger, indifferent universe.
In this poster, the distorted architecture and eerie, shadowed figures were trying to emulate the unsettling atmosphere of Gothic horror. Inspired by our reading of The Haunting of Hill House, the poster merges familiar domestic elements with surreal, labyrinthine structures to suggest that this space is alive and in motion, recalling our in class exploration of the haunted house as a sentient force. With twisting corridors and fading faces in the architecture that only appear when you stare at the poster for a long time, it also conveys a sense of entrapment and psychological decay. These are all key elements of Gothic horror that confront our characters with both literal and mental prisons.
This poster explores body horror by focusing on the grotesque transformation of a human form, and the use of some abject imagery. I tried to find images of alien-like creatures and unsettling images of human decay. I also did not want to reveal all the details of these images so that the mind was left to imagine the rest. Drawing from Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild, where we read about humans serving as hosts for alien creatures, the design tried to capture some of the unsettling use of human and non-human forms, showing how body horror evokes emotion by turning the body into something foreign and uncontrollable. The figure on the right intended to show devastation through decay, an emotion that was felt while reading this story.
This design captures the ecological horror we see in Annihilation by depicting a jungle landscape filled with otherworldly moss and wildlife with hints of human forms and un-human forms entangled within the vegetation. The more vibrant, almost glowing colors suggest natural life, but the distorted plants and creatures create an atmosphere of lurking danger. Being inspired by our by Annihilation this poster shows ecological horror’s exploration of nature as a powerful and unknowable force. The scene here blurs the boundaries between human and ecosystem, showing human forms in the trees, and symbolizing the abject merging of humanity with a world that no longer behaves under human rule. I also called on specific characters, scenes, and creatures from our reading like the tower, human moss, and I hope you enjoy the creepy dolphin.
