By Tova O’Brien
Hollywood, television and urban legends have always done their part to keep the supernatural in the spotlight.
And now an exhibition on at Wellington’s Film Archive is bringing the paranormal to the art world.
The people behind the works are a mixture of believers and sceptics.
Curator Pippa Sanderson is a bit of both, but says there is some pretty compelling evidence to grapple with.
“I’ve heard enough stories from people who have nothing to gain either way to be convinced that it is possible to communicate with people who have died,” she says.
And artist Johanna Sanders, whose spectre haunts unassuming gallery goers, agrees.
Some people see them, some people hear them, some people just can tell there's something around and I’m not sure if there is something there, but it sort of seems like there is,” she says.
Sanders says most people she has talked to have had experiences that do not necessarily fit into any rational box.
And, Rebecca Pilcher, the woman that breathes life into inanimate objects, is one of them.
Those experiences are of course more commonly found on the silver screen
But when your family is open to spirituality, watching films like Poltergeist with them can draw some unexpected responses.
“They were very matter of fact about it and it was like, you know that's the way Hollywood does it, but of course we've seen houses bleeding,” says Sanderson.
With the influx of television shows catering to people’s fascination with the increasingly en vogue paranormal, it seems the organisers of this exhibition have sensed people's interest.
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