CREATIVE PROCESSES INDUCED BY NOEC

RESEARCH REPORT

Abstract

This article is an account of the doctoral research I defended in 2018. In it, I seek to understand the relationship between comic books and Visionary Art. In Brazil, although little known, there are internationally renowned comic book authors who are clearly visionaries, such as Sergio Macedo and Alain Voss. The research analyzed works by Moebius, Jim Woodring, Rick Veitch, Sergio Macedo, and Xalberto, in addition to my own production prior to the research. As a reference, I used mainly bibliographies related to creative processes, anthropology (shamanism), and psychology (ENOC) to demarcate the theoretical terrain covered. The research was carried out in the line of research of Visual Poetics and Creative Processes, thus, it also extends to artistic practice, that is, making comics. I collaboratively created stories that fall within the scope of Visionary Art, using the ritualistic Ayahuasca tea, lucid dreams and the technique called Holotropic Breathwork as ENOC induction methods. The methodological approach was art-based research combined with autoethnography. As a poetic result, 16 comic strips were developed. The creative processes of each of them were discussed in the thesis, seeking to draw parallels between what was seen, felt and portrayed, with the cognitive processes and psychological states typical of ENOC. As a result, I understand that Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness, especially those highlighted for this research, do not promote increased creativity in the creative individual. However, they assist and influence the artists' themes, which can sometimes be confused with increased creativity. It can be better understood as a choice to 'pursue a specific theme'. In the article presented here, after the final considerations, an unpublished version of a visionary story was added, resulting from the research. The motivation for including the story is to provide a visual example of the type of work discussed in the thesis and article.