In 1938 Sigmund Freud came to Great Britain, exiled from Nazi Austria. Amongst the possessions rescued from Vienna was his famous couch, which still resides in his home in Hampstead.
In the modern therapist’s room the décor is bland but the room is a place of trauma and heightened emotion.
The chairs are a site of trauma, of a fleeting intense ideal relationship that is secure and completely private. The relationship only exists in the space of that room. At the end of each session a parting occurs that presages the end of the relationship for ever – the end of the therapy. The chairs then stand empty.
Sometimes that relationship is strained, awkward, confused. Sometimes it is concurrent. Sometimes only the client struggles. The only thing that matters in the room is the relationship between the people who use the chairs, in a room that has no other function.
The ‘Therapist Hour’ is 50 minutes.
All images in this series:
Paper size 406.4 x508mm, 16 x 20 inches
Harman Gloss Barayta
Image has 1.5 inch border top and sides
Therapy and rooms: links
Gilbert and George, Dusty Corners
Sarah Jones, Couch
Shellburne Thurber, Analytic