In a moment of anxiety, where you are afraid of exposing yourself to the dangerous, you put your fingertip to the mouth and start biting off your nail, the nail that serves to protect the foundation from discomfort.

When the protection is torn off and the sore surface is exposed, it can be attacked.

But after a while the wound will heal and you can cope better with the discomfort.

The paradox is that eventually the nail grows over the wound again protecting the already healed skin, and you can’t expose yourself to the discomfort any longer.

Is the society around us this protective nail? We have developed good social and economic security networks that compensate too much for the exposure of the hard reality in life and in nature.

However, as individuals, we still carry these built-in instinctive mechanisms that always ensure the survival from dangers, but we are no longer allowed to experience it.

The fear of real dangers has been replaced by irrational anxieties and neuroses.

Espen Pedersen has studied fine arts at Rogaland School of Art and is currently a BA-student in Fine Art at Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University in Bergen. His work consists of video, sound, installation, photography, sculpture and performance.