Hikikomori – der Welt entrückt is my bachelors project at the muenster school of design. I did a long research on this specific mental illness and illustrated a book, accompanied by a poetic text, that explains the thoughts and feelings of those affected by Hikikomori.
Hikikomori is a psychosocial disorder in which those affected voluntarily isolate themselves for a period of time ranging from 6 months to many years. Hikikomori are caught up in feelings of fear and shame of not being good enough to take up space in social life. They try to cope with those emotions by withdrawing from society.
To illustrate this symptom, the illustrations show a Hikikomori who is fused with his space and surrounded by fear in form of fearful creatures.
A Hikikomori’s self-doubt is so overwhelming that it prevents positive thoughts.
The fear of social pressure and failure is so vast that Hikikomori see no way out of their situation.
This illustrated book is a hardcover A4 unit book contains 64 fully illustrated pages, a poetic text, as well as a prologue and an epilogue. A special feature is the wrapper designed to underline the feeling of the urge to hide.
… some more impressions
