Introduction

Component 1

Throughout component one, there was a majorly nihilistic viewpoint. All the themes I discussed were related to decay.

My component 1 was divided into two major halves, the first half being about the beauty of decay, and about death and the consumption of dead things as the greatest tribute to the divine, with themes of the divine as something that itself feed off of death. I spoke about the ritualistic consumption of the flesh of Christ in holy communion, and the worshipful way I interpreted the way a whale, upon its death, sinks to the seabed and becomes a tiny ecosystem of its own, feeding millions of lifeforms for over half a century. At the core of this project was the idea of decay as an aspect of the divine, and of consumption as an act of love.

The final piece I derived from those ideas was of a rotting whale, which may or may not be alive, being eaten even as it was swimming. The illustration was done with sumi ink and dip pen, with ink washes added afterward. It incapsulated all my ideas of divinity - represented by the whale, the largest creature on earth, and utterly incomprehensible to the things it consumes and the things that consume it - and of consumption and decay as worship.

Something I did not look into during that project, but which was in the back of my mind throughout, was the use of cannibalism in literature as an act of pure, absolute love. It was an idea I found romantic (in the literary sense) and relevant to the project, but never explored due to time constraints.

The second half looked at the existential horror of existing in a world where decay was core to its nature. By the end of that project, I had concluded that at the core of what it means to exist is suffering, and that ultimately, there was no escape from suffering, and that this suffering defined all existence.

The final piece for that project, “the lighthouse”, was a musing on human resilience despite the horrors of what it means to exist. The lighthouse stood tall in the middle of the circular composition, with a wave circling around it like an open mouth, and a sea monster snaking through the waves. The lighthouse itself represented human will and resilience, with the wave being the universe itself, its endless battering waves ultimately destroying the rocks that act as the base of the lighthouse, highlighting the impermanence of humanity. The sea monster represented the deeper contempt held by the wider circle of humanity for the individual - for as capable human beings are of kindness, we are far more inclined to cruelty and hate.

However, the nature of the lighthouse has implications for analyzing the piece. Yes, life is impermanent, and yes, it is cruel and difficult, but you are a lighthouse that will sustain throughout it for a very long time, and as long as you guide others to their destination, would it not have all been worth it?

Sanctuary

It is that final comment - the human being as an impermanent, guiding lighthouse - that forms the basis for component 2.

It makes logical sense to shift the perspective from the lighthouse, the sufferer who lives to guide others, to the boat that is guided. That is to say - if life is, at its core, about suffering, and it is still worth living, that meaning comes from the people you love. The lighthouses that guide your boat to safe harbor. The people for whom you become as much of a lighthouse as they do for you.

This project will revolve around friendship, then. the sanctuary, and escape from the world around us, found in our loved ones.

I chose not to include family in what I want to depict in this project. For a lot of people, even those with a good relationship with their families, they are unable to find the recognition of the self, or true safety, in those families. It can be said that it’s impossible for one’s family to really understand their children, because those children have spent their whole lives under the shadow of the expectations of their parents, and when their identity diverges from their parents, the parents remain in that shadow of expectation, and are unable to see the person their child is becoming through it. This is true for the vast majority of families. There is no true emotional intimacy between the parents and their child, and it is rare that there is, though when that intimacy exists, there are very few relationships more fulfilling and important in someone’s life.

Friendship, however, is different. These are personal connections made by one’s own choice, and as a result have greater capacity for depth and longevity. People often say “blood is thicker than water”, 0but they ignore the full saying - “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” The connections we choose to form ourselves are stronger than the familial connections forced on us.

The second aspect of this project is food. In Indian culture, and in my own life, food has been the binding glue throughout. Sitting down at a table with a small group of people. about whom you care very deeply, and eating together, is an extremely intimate, simple, and beautiful thing. The word “companion” comes from French, and directly translates to “one with whom you break bread”. One of the oldest words for a close friend - a companion, one with whose you travel, one alongside whom you move through life - comes from the act of eating together.

Artists.base

Previously, I looked almost entirely at artists working with ink, and linocarvers. That choice made sense for the more somber, unhappy tone of those projects, but for component 2, I decided to change track to more vibrant, impressionist colors and style, and watercolor and pastels as a medium, to complement the themes of sanctuary, haven, safety, escape, and love.

I chose all the artists for this piece for their depiction of friendship, or community, or group dynamics. The first artist I looked at was Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, in particular his two paintings of a pair of people in bed, simply laying together. His art captured something very soft and wonderful I don’t often see, and was the thing that led to me choosing “sanctuary” as my theme.

I also searched for watercolor artists who also worked with lineart and ink, eventually landing on Hayao Miyazaki, whose work essentially captures what I’m going for, both in terms of medium and themes.

Introduction to my Process and The Gathering

The final piece, which I decided to call “The Gathering”, will be an illustration of three friends meeting up together, during a time in all their lives where they are struggling, to eat together, and find some solace in each others company.

My plan is to experiment with watercolor and lineart throughout the project in the lead up to the final piece, and to alongside develop character profiles and interpersonal histories for all three of the characters depicted in the final piece, to produce a cohesive and meaningful narrative.