Apocalypse
Graphite on Bristol Paper, 2009
During my Magic & Ritual class, there was a discussion about the end of the world. Just about everyone seems to share a belief that some kind of apocalypse can happen at any random moment. I know that for Christians, the end of the world means that all believers will go to Heaven; some others prepare themselves for that day and build themselves a safe shelter. It's as if sharing this belief with the world has become a ritual itself. But what if that idea was created because we didn't want to deal with our problems anymore? As quoted by Catherine Firpo, the apocalypse may just be a metaphor for what is dying in our hearts.
I made this drawing for what I felt was like an apocalypse based on that discussion. A heart can be seen filled with a dark entity that represents the problems and the things that are not working out for this person. When the apocalypse occurs, a new hope is born (symbolized by the baby's hand). The dark entity bleeds out as the heart dies, and the baby's hand reaches out to the afterlife while trying to escape from its past problems. Even if one does not believe in an afterlife, believing in an apocalypse still means that everyone's problems will come to an end.