Play (with) Me (2024)
A darkly surreal zine of therapy abuse, power dynamics, and escape. Based on true events.
Based on true events, Play (with) Me is a visual narrative exposing the predatory power dynamics of a male therapist who takes advantage of his young female client’s vulnerability. The 8-chapter zine explores emotional abandonment — when the person who is supposed to heal becomes the source of harm. By turning innocent childhood games like ghost leg, cat’s cradle and flipbooks into sinister metaphors for manipulation, the booklet is set to trap readers in the despair and destabilizing experience.
The project depicts the collision between the client’s dark secrets and transference and the therapist’s countertransference — his unspoken desire of control and subsequent punishment of the client for failing to 'support' him during his hard times. With eerie photos, striking black and white surreal, sometimes sensual illustrations, and experimental typography, the zine is a brutal depiction of emotional entanglement and how therapeutic trust becomes a grotesque power play.
