Malaise: a journey through the Gothic fictions of Daniela Edburg

Abstract

This article examines how Mexican artist Daniela Edburg has been using Gothic idioms to raise awareness of both personal and environmental ailments. For over two decades, Edburg has combined digital photography and textiles to create fictional settings in which women are depicted in domestic spaces or natural landscapes in bizarre situations. Some of her characters are attacked by monsters, while others appear in a state of escapism, and many have encounters with death or disease. In this paper, I examine the connections between Edburg’s art and Gothic tropes including the uncanny, the return of the dead, madness and disease, intrusions into domestic space, the clash of old and new, and the yearning for reconnection with nature. The text begins with an analysis of her most recent project, Malaise, which alludes to Frankenstein and crystallizes core concerns that have persisted throughout her career. Later, I examine prior series by the artist to demonstrate how gothic traits have always been present in Edburg’s work. Using a gothic style, the artist has constantly reflected on how humans relate to the natural world through the artificial, as well as the consequences of this attitude toward life, which has led us to a dystopian future.