After departing from a religious background at an early age and giving up the idea of pearly gates with familiar faces in white robes, I often found myself in communities that believed in the nothingness. That once your life on Earth ends the curtains close and everything goes black. I do not aspire to critique either view, but around the age of 16 my mind found that vacancy a great space to fill with imagination. As the years continued, I began to compile a number of “what if’s”. After a strong vision of one of these “afterlife” ideas happened to me, I illustrated it for fun. That led me to want to make more! I began vocalizing this idea around the topic of death learned that
A) I am often not the only person who contemplates this deeply, and…
B) There is a strong number of people who choose to avoid the conversation of death in general, especially their own.
Because the show I am currently working on is centered around the idea of death, I have spent months toiling over understanding the discomfort. It’s a trigger subject for many, a taboo for some, and a survival instinct to avoid if possible. But in a world where we are all trying to find out what makes us special and niches to make us marketable, death humbles us as we all will experience it in one way or another. I’ve seen it dissolve people’s differences and draw them to stand together in facing loss. As a person living with Crohn’s disease who has at times felt that they could touch the veil that separated one from life, it has personally taught me to appreciate each day. I believe death is as important as birth, and can be one of life's greatest teachers. So the question I posed in light of this show is, “how can we be better communicators and support for each other? “ As we all inevitably experience loss throughout our lives and gain new parts to our identities. To be sad about loss is to know love in some form. That to me is extremely powerful.
This particular painting is very autobiographical. The figure in the center stands before these two realms of afterlife they are departing from. Their face torn between worlds. The symbol in the center actually is based on my logo, but is in this format representing a void.
