This week I decided to discuss a different issue in the world, and that is the issue of a lack of empathy or guilt. The idea that your actions do not have consequences or repercussions is something I've seen far too often, and it isn't something that has started to occur recently. My thought behind this piece is a mirror to reflect your thoughts, opinions, and actions back at you. The heart is black and shrunken to show the lack of love in their hearts, and the large coffin swallowing them whole being the place they're quickly heading towards.
My inspiration was Junji Ito's Earthbound. A comic which follows a young detective trying to find out why people are becoming glued to one spot. Seemingly out of nowhere a person will be standing still in a strange place, unable to move, unable to speak, and ultimately they perish in these poses. It isn't until she investigates the lives around these people that she learns they are suffering from guilt over something they did and got away with. This point is shown through a teen standing beside his dog's grave (he feels he is responsible for its death) a man standing next to the spot where a small girl was killed in a hit and run, and the detective's own boss standing next to her bed where an unknown assailant raped her months prior.
My second source of inspiration is the Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. This infamous tale follows a young man gone mad, who thought himself quite cunning in his execution of "the old man." However, when the police come for a rather routine style visit he begins to hear the old man's heart beating under the floorboards where he buried him. Not being able to stand the beating any longer he rips up the boards to show the police the body and free him of this guilt and the incessant beating.
The biggest thing these stories have in common is guilt. The earthbound and this crazy man were both either able to, or close to, getting away with whatever they pleased no matter the cost of life or mental health. But outside forces or internal madness drove them to confess to their crimes, literally in Poe's story while more subtly in Ito's.
I've always heard guilt will drive you mad or the guilt will kill you, which is why I chose a coffin shape for this piece. I just wonder how people would feel if their actions and personality were reflected back at them and they were forced to confront their misdeeds and darkened hearts.
I hope this all makes sense, and that you enjoyed my little rant about two artists I've enjoyed for quite some time. Here are the only photos I could find of both artists followed by my in progress pictures. Thank you for reading.
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