Nowadays, it is common to differentiate types of thinking, often favoring scientific reasoning over magical, mythological, or religious thought as the "correct" path for human progress. However, from an individual perspective, purely rational and factual thinking does not always serve a person well on its own—it can lead to anxiety and frustration. It also frequently gives rise to an unconscious mythological framework: in the context of deep informational crises, scientific facts are taken on faith, while the gaps between these external fragments of rationality are filled with myths emerging from the subconscious.
Gerda Vaas believes that this process can be understood and used to one's advantage. By setting aside the contradictory notion of "objectivity," different types of thinking can be woven together into a shimmering, subjective fabric of reality—one that supports people on multiple levels, especially in moments of crisis when emotions cannot simply be switched off.

Currently, the artist explores the intertwining of psychotherapy methods with various narrative themes:

• Social themes (Observers series)
• Existential themes (Obelisks series)
• Playful themes (Scenes series)
• Intrapersonal themes (CBT series)
• Magical themes (Ideograms series)

Through these, she constructs myths that aim to explain, simplify, and make human relationships—with oneself and the surrounding world—more engaging.

Artistic Language and Methods
Gerda creates objects, bas-reliefs, and paintings using a visual language built on:

• Figures of inner child-observers (sometimes sculpted from polymer clay). This aspect of the self, present in everyone, often requires the most protection and processing, yet it is also a source of curiosity, exploration, and admiration for space, time, and other people.
• Stones, sticks, glass, and other found objects—fragments of reality. The search for them feels almost like a ritualistic and thrilling process, while assembling them into art objects—finding rhymes in textures, colors, and forms—is akin to reading and writing poetry.
• Playing with perception of scale and cosmic fear. When the feeling arises that humans are nothing more than microscopic bacteria on the body of the universe, the artist invites viewers to imagine themselves as small observers exploring larger (relative to them) objects. Upon returning to the scale of their own bodies, they can experience a sense of vastness and significance.
• Flies and other insects of varying degrees of intrusiveness, symbolizing thoughts and internal processes.

Gerda sees myth-making, system-building, imagination, abstract thinking, the ability to generalize and reconstruct reality, and the capacity to "play" at life as extraordinary tools unique to the human species—a kind of enchanting power that should be embraced whenever possible.

ARTIST STATEMENT