by Eleanor Antoniou
My Head is a Jungle is a wild and beautiful, ethereal journey through an immersive maze-like structure, with intimate rooms abundant with plants and flora, framing illustrator Manjit Thapp’s detailed works of tapestries, murals, mirrors, and digital prints. Stepping through the first doorway visitors are led into the mind of the artist herself and invited to lose themselves amongst the jungle's tropical colours and pathways.
Symbols and motifs recur throughout the space, weaving together the artist’s feelings and thoughts, whilst also taking the visitor on an emotive journey through the wilderness of the mind: tigers, snakes, exotic flowers, a young woman, and finally, the red sun, hovering above the entire structure.
The red sun becomes a meaningful symbol of female empowerment and strength which refuses to die out. The motif reappears throughout the collection, including as a mirror, in which viewers are invited to look introspectively at themselves, surrounded by the wild growth and tangled feelings which weave throughout the space.
Thapp’s art undeniably inspires emotion and reflection. Her works create an atmosphere which is intimate, peaceful, and empowering, willing us to explore our own deepest thoughts as we escape into the green maze, in which the real world is visible only in narrow glimpses.
After emerging from the space, visitors can write their own feelings upon flowers, which together create the final mural. Here you could spend forever reading the memories, fears, insecurities and dreams of those who have walked through the jungle, in a final gesture of powerful, shared emotion.
