Through this project I aimed to create a materialised personification of a phobia, with the intention of blending the psychologically immersive experience of a phobia, whilst shaping it to the character’s visual identity through creature costume design.

Rather than recreating an exactment of a phobia, I instead wanted to demonstrate how the phobia may make the subject/person feel, and how these internalised feelings can manifest and project themselves beyond the confines of our minds, creating a ‘physical reality’ that is both palpable yet intangible.

I chose to materialise 'Thalassophobia' - the phobia of deep bodies of water. My main visual inspiration for this creature was the angler fish, found in the depths of the ocean.