link to book – https://livingandlifeless.com
Reflection 3
I have always loved the idea of creation and individualism and in many ways, this short digital book is a product of both these factors. In the poems Creating Manifestation’ and Stone cold, I touch upon themes of human comprehension and creativity. In Creating Manifestation, I describe the art of thinking and its connection to the art of writing, whereas in Stone Cold, I explore the idea of women possessing unbridled inividualism in a society that constantly defines them.
In my other works such as The Butterfly, I deal with the issue of individuality, and the unique ability to ‘stand out’. The artwork which accompanies The Butterfly is contradictory. On one hand there’s the portait of Hitler, symbolic of power, on the other, there are butterflies painted around him, symbolic of beauty and serenity. Through the painting, I’ve tried to express the great juxtapositon of events, histories, feelings and identities that exist in our world.
I have a profound love for history. I feel that through the lens of history, we can evaluate humanity’s flaws. In my poem, Soldiers Trudge On, I shed light on themes such as innocence, and in Dancing with Death I illustrate a soldier’s temperament as he approaches ‘the end’. In both historical poems, the ‘mind’ in various situations is written about. They also carry with them a sense of verisimiltude and deal with ideas about war. Inspiration of the pieces comes from my reading of Wilfred Owen poems and, in general, literary works that belong to the Lost Generation of writers.
In my literary works, The Desert, and Young, Free and Restless, I explore the fluidity and incorrigibility of nature. Young, Free and Restless descibes an old man fighting his way through the snow in hope of reaching the fire that stands at the very end of his road. The old man, eventually, is not able to reach the fire, as the bounds of nature prevent him from doing so. One can never defy the laws of time and nature that govern these lands. The Desert, however, desribes how nature beautifully changes. It links art and nature inexplicably together, drawing simialrities between the creation of a painting and the creation of a natural landdscape. Nature is all powerful and daunting, but also beautiful and serene.
Reflection 4
Today, I stumbled upon a roadblock while drawing. It was very difficult for me to translate may writing into drawing. I was revising for a history test and I stumbled upon an idea. In the initial stages of my HL history IB course, we learned about Hitler’s rise of power, and the ruthless propagandistic ways as well as brute force he implemented to attain the title of ‘Fuhrer’. My poem, The Butterfly, death with the juxtaposition of serenity and darkness. The exterior and much darker world of power in comparison to the beauty of a butterfly. A question I thought to myself was, How can a man be so cruel? In a world where people like Mother Teresa existed, how was Hitler formed? My artwork tries to answer this. In the artwork, Hitler is drawn in charcoal and the background is colourful, elucidating the deep contrast between good and bad, or morality and immorality. In the process of drawing my artworks, I have learned larger concepts, such as power, which has helped me attain to an extent L6.
Reflection 5
Today I stumbled upon a problem in my digital book. I was unable to write a short story down, as I was running out of ideas. I thought of multiculturalism, and topics on religion, but nothing truly sparked. Most of my work deals with ficticious topics and that, in my opinion, needs more creativity and imagination than any other literary genre. So, this time I tried something new. I decided to write on something related to real life, a non fiction topic. I decided to write something in relation to my grandfather, as I’m inspired by his hardwork, determination and youthful spirit. I started writing on his life, but slowly that took a turn. I realised that from my non fiction, I started to write something unrelated to my personal life, or my grandfather. I wrote of a man whose stuck in the past, and is unable to deal with the present, something Gatsby-esque. Through this process, I learned much more about the fluid art of writing, and the need to look inwards at times, and not always been so fascinated with the external world when it comes to storytelling. I made an artwork on the same –
