I’ve decided to use Sun as the object and below are some of the final works that I have come up with. Each tells the story of the Greek Sun god Apollo and the myths that surrounds him.
From left to right:
The Sun in the pov of the other planets is a superior.
The hierarchy of the Gods were divided into two classes: the Titans and the Olympians. The Titans that embodies the image of the other planets, were seen to be subclassed compared to the Olympians for they were unable to defeat the latter after so many tries. It also goes with the idea that the planets revolves around the sun in the planet system. Thus, there is a sense of importance and perhaps dominance the sun has over the other planets. Not only does the colouring implies that of the sun, a raven sits on top of his shoulders; raven because it is one of the animals associated with the god himself.
The Sun in the pov of a stubborn man is an abomination.
The next piece was not about Apollo himself, rather it is about a man named Icarus. He was thought to escape from an island with his father by flying with madeshift wings made from wax and feathers. Ignoring his father’s warning, Icarus flew too close to the sun and the heat melted the wax and caused Icarus to fall to his death. He was found in a sea, and the name is later named after him. The piece is a rather direct visual narrative of when he was found on the body of water.
From left to right:
The Sun in the pov of the Inuits is a celebration.
The myth that this piece was inspired by was of Apollo and the Land of Hyperboreans. It is believed that the land is situated near the arctic, thus it was always covered in snow. When Apollo first visited the land, his presence quickly melted the snow and trees and the such started to grow. It was the start of spring. Due to this change, the people of the land of Hyperboreans celebrated to commemorate the end of winter. I used children to showcase such an excitement as I feel they are the closest physical embodiment to something very playful and joyful. The girl pulling onto the sun’s hand , and the other pointing to the tree, portrays the idea of not only fascination of something unfamiliar but also shows how the the people had welcomed his presence tremendously. I used Inuits because they were more well known as compared to the other arctic clans (even though there is a high probability that the people of the land of hyperboreans were not Inuits, assuming the myth was real.)
The Sun in the pov of the sunflower is the object of her yearning.
This piece is centred around the myth of one of Apollo’s scandalous affair. Apollo was smitten with a girl, Leucothea. Leucothea had a sister named Clytia who was absolutely in love with the Sun god. Thus when she knew that Apollo had came to her sister’s room in the middle of the night, Clytia told her father. Their father, angered, had Leucothea buried alive. Apollo, grieving for his beloved, turned Clytia into a sunflower, just so that she would yearn after him but never reach him. I had the Sun facing the sunflower with his back, with the idea of the setting sun.
From left to right:
The Sun in the pov of a desperate man is hope.
This piece talks about the myth surrounding Orpheus who made a journey to hell to take his wife back to the world of the living. Orpheus was known as one who was really talented in music, seeing as how Apollo was the one who taught him (Apollo excelled in music as well). During the times when he needed to find motivation and hope, Orpheus would climb a cliff to witness the sun rise as he believed Apollo was a greater God than most.
The Sun in the pov of a human girl is an end game.
Lastly, this piece talks about the myth of him being in love with a human princess, Marpessa. Apollo even came to ask for her hand in marriage, to which the Marpessa rejected. She stated how Apollo was immortal and she wasn’t, and that their relationship was doomed from the get go. I made it as such that the difference is expounded not only by the gesture of Apollo reaching out for her hand which was lax, but also in the background. There is also a thin border between the two images, to further push the idea that it’s an impossible love story to begin with.
Sketchbook
Here are some of the development process.
In some of my other works, I actually used a lot of water to make a watercolour effect. Perhaps the paper I’m using for this project was too thin in comparison (?) because the colours dried a lot faster and the paper became too flimsy. Thus, I decided to use thicker paint, something I don’t prefer doing but it worked out in the end.