The reversed side of beauty: aesthetics of death in the visual expression of Treha Sektori

The relations between beauty and ugliness, as well as the thin line that separates these two phenomena as concepts, has been a matter of discussion for several decades, with the latter being always shifted to the border of academic interest. This paper will focus on the potential reasons behind the perception of ugliness, as well as on the explanation of a “pleasing ugliness.” The concept builds upon the multiple definitions of how and why we perceive a subject as ugly, while at the same time presenting the option of transgressing the notions of visual repulsion and perceiving it as a pleasurable experience. As a case study that will be used the artistic expression of the French audio-visual artist Dehn Sora and his project Treha Sektori. Despite the strong subjective experience, we can assume that conclusions drawn from this example can have a more general application in the field of aesthetic perception of visual beauty and thus help clarify several questions regarding the classification of beauty and ugliness, such as the importance of pleasing, or displeasing experience in forming opinions regarding beauty.