„Urszula Nawrot presented the topic 'Trauma and its Archetypal Core in the Film Umbra by Urszula Nawrot’ at the scientific conference 'The Art of Storytelling,’ organized by the London Arts-Based Centre. The conference took place in Edinburgh.”
I was more interested in how archetypes operate within the psyche, particularly in relation to trauma healing, rather than focusing solely on the archetypes themselves. With a focus on the phenomenological perspective, I aimed to capture how a person experiences an archetype—how it manifests in their inner world and the emotions it provokes. I explored where it guides the conscious self.
In the film Umbra, archetypes such as the shadow, the lover-devil, the inner child, and the mother are clearly depicted. As Carl Jung said, „In each of us, there is another whom we do not know. He speaks to us in dreams and tells us how differently he sees us from the way we see ourselves… When we become conscious of such a moment of insight, we have come face to face with the unconscious, and the process of individuation has begun.” (The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche)
In Umbra, I was able to portray the process of self-healing and self-awareness through a dialogue with archetypes. Their actions seem purposeful, and in the case of trauma, appear to be aimed at healing and revealing the universal principles of human existence. As Marie-Louise von Franz, a Jungian analyst, said, „In a dream situation, you may behave like a fool or a hero, and then you might say that is not how you see yourself, but how the unconscious sees you—it is the photograph of your ego taken by the unconscious.”
URSZULA NAWROT