We live in precarious times, with the ever-present threat of revolution, a worldwide pandemic, or nuclear war. Every human being has an innate fear of death, yet today we also seem to struggle with a fear of life itself.

In the 17th century, a time of religious upheaval, the theme of death became prominent in the visual arts. Macabre memento mori (remember that you will die) imagery reminded people of the transience of human existence and worldly pleasures. Wax pictures depicted the possible fate of the immortal soul. According to Catholic doctrine, the soul is judged at death and sent to Heaven for eternal reward, Hell for punishment, or Purgatory for a period of purifying repentance. Vanitas paintings - still-life scenes with objects that symbolize the transience of human life: the skull and the hourglass, for instance - were also popular in the 17th century, especially in the Low Countries.

Vanitas style paintings have had a resurgence in popularity in recent years, with YBAs, such as Mat Collishaw and Damien Hirst, among the first to adopt the trend. More recently, Vice Greece featured photographs of death by Yiannis Stefanidis. He chose to represent death as it manifested around him: Bones left on a plate after dinner, a half buried doll’s head, a rotting bouquet of flowers, a sheep’s skull, a fish tail, a dead rat, a splat of blood in the road. Michael Petry’s book, Nature Morte (2013), lavishly illustrates a huge array of ‘still-life’ works by contemporary artists.

There are strong similarities between now and the world of 16th and 17th century Old Masters. Once again, we find ourselves in a time of religious upheaval. Whilst many have simply opted out of religion, religious fundamentalism is also rife. Our fears today are nothing new - we may meet a nasty end at the hands of terrorists, or someone pressing the nuclear button, we may be the victim of a natural disaster or a statistic of common diseases such as - depending on our location - cancer or malaria.

However, in the West, most of our fears are based on 21st century phobias: Fear of missing out (FOMO), fear of losing out (FOLO), and fear of dying out due to climate change (FODO) have become our major preoccupations. And there are many others too, including fear of ageing, fear of being too fat, fear of being too thin, fear of Brexit - so vehement a feeling it was nicknamed Project Fear.

One of our biggest fears is probably fear of failure. In Asia they have a word for this – “kiasu” – used to describe the desire to not miss an opportunity. In an interview with the Straits Times (6th April, 2016), entrepreneur Kuik Shiao-Yin said that Singaporeans’ fear of failure has led to a lack of originality in entrepreneurship: The “kiasu entrepreneur” is driven by the anxiety to make short-term gains, rather than considering long term benefits to the economy.

“It is really just copy-and-paste work of little worth. Yesterday’s bubble tea shop is today’s hipster coffee joint and cat café.”

As for fear of missing out, today there is so much going on, and - thanks to social media - we can also see what everyone is doing all over the world. Writing in his blog about a trip to a holiday home in the north of Scotland with no television or wifi, Phil Jewitt says, “Our 24/7 connected lives sometimes mean we don’t see what is right on our doorsteps. It is easy to turn the telly on or call up our timeline at the expense of other things, conversation, walks, nature, wildlife… or visiting someone who may be lonely.” It seems strange that we do not tend to worry about missing out on pastimes that might give more sense of meaning, purpose and wellbeing to our lives.

The Egyptian initiative, EVOLVE, is an art collective whose fifth exhibition was themed around Phobia, and displayed on Behance, the online art and design platform. The Phobia collection considers the immortality and permanent nature of fear, as well as the way in which it consumes its victims, preventing them from progressing or evolving. The words, “Kill it, before it kills you,” open the collection and inspire artists to interpret the theme in a personal capacity. Again, this is nothing new:

“A fear has accompanied me ever since I could think,” wrote Munch in his diary – he gave his pictures titles such as Fear, The Scream and Death.

Over and above phobias, our ultimate fear remains an apocalyptic natural event, or the final world war, Armageddon. Artists Jon Thomson and Alison Craighead created a fragrance called Apocalypse as part of a show at London’s Carroll/Fletcher Gallery. The wearable scent was created by Edinburgh based perfumer Euan McCall to reflect blood, incense, wormwood, rod of iron, creatures of the sea, hail and fire, flesh burned with fire, brimstone and other aromas conjuring up the Book of Revelation’s predictions of doom. “The work is a willful commodification of the end times,” said the artists, which at £300 plus VAT a bottle, is not an understatement. Our phobias and worst fears can make for profitable business.

This article was originally written in 2016 for Visuology Magazine

Image credits:

Chelsea College of Art MA Textile Design graduate, Hyemi Ku, studied phobias to show how textiles can represent the deep unconscious inside the mind where phobic reactions and, by extension, fears, are generated.