The Shadow

“Unfortunately there can be no doubt that man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be. Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. If an inferiority is conscious, one always has a chance to correct it. Furthermore, it is constantly in contact with other interests, so that it is continually subjected to modifications. But if it is repressed and isolated from consciousness, it never gets corrected.” – Carl Jung

Musings related to something I’m writing as text for my book. I’m going to do a kind of fictional account of the aftermath of Pollux’s death with my illustrations interspersed within. Still processing, though.

Dotwork Documentation #1

My experiment with documentation derived from that Facebook video I shared a while back. While I didn’t add in the number of dots or anything fancy, I found it quite interesting to see my own stippling process at 300% of its normal speed. Reminds me a lot of the motion of tattoo guns. I know it’s not very HD (I draw at night) but I’ll probably try again soon and see if I can do something about the quality of the video.

Siamese twins

siamese

 

Drew this as part of an exploration on the Gemini twins/mortality and time. I enjoy doing quite a bit of macabre-looking illustrations in my free time and I’m carrying that aesthetic over in my explorations just to see how it works out. I liked the idea of using Siamese twins to see how else Gemini could be represented.

What is my project all about?

Castor and Pollux, in classical mythology, twin heroes called the Dioscuri; Castor was the son of Leda and Tyndareus, Pollux the son of Leda and Zeus. They were brothers to Helen and Clytemnestra. Castor excelled as a horseman and Pollux as a boxer. They were great warriors and were noted for their devotion to each other. In one version of the legend, after Castor was killed by Lynceus, Pollux, in accordance with the classical tradition that one of every set of twins is the son of a god and thus immortal, begged Zeus to allow his brother to share his immortality with him. Zeus arranged for the twins to divide their time evenly between Hades and Heaven, and in their honor he created the constellation Gemini. According to another legend, Castor was killed by Idas. The Dioscuri were widely regarded as patrons of mariners and were responsible for Saint Elmo’s fire. They were especially honored by the Romans, on whose side they were said to have appeared miraculously during the battle of Lake Regillus.

Read more here.

The myth of Castor and Pollux forms the basis of my project in that there are several interesting points to do with time in that one story about the twins of the Gemini constellation. Firstly the dichotomy between mortality and immortality, with one twin having a vastly different perception of the passage of time from the other. The potential of death for one versus the enduring existence of the other, when both twins are physically (and presumably biologically) identical, where the second dichotomy lies – undeniably similar, yet vastly different. It seems almost paradoxical to me that two people devoted to one another should be so divided by relative lifespan. The division of time between Hades and Heaven may also be an interesting thing to explore, though my primary concern is the differing lifespans of the twins themselves.

This is just the conceptual basis. I haven’t yet decided what direction to move in beyond that of an illustration-based project with possible video documentation being one of the outcomes.

Other sources of inspiration that I will draw on to conceptualize the final outcome will be astrology and the zodiac (star charts, birth charts, the Zodiac Man) as well as the traditional tarot deck. I like the illustration style used in all these esoteric things and the depth of meaning that these objects can have. Nautical illustration may also be relevant since the twins are patrons of mariners (as above), which is a lovely twist for me because I rather like nautical illustration and marine cryptids (the kraken, etc.).

Time map

time map

 

My mind map depicting my thoughts on the topic at hand. I’ve highlighted the areas that are of more interest to me; from the word and idea clusters I’ve been using I can already tell which areas under the main umbrella categories are of the greatest interest to me and my project.

I have a personal interest in astrology, horoscopes and mythology that stems from an early age – my mother encouraged me to read widely and my favourite stories were always the Greek myths, including those concerning the constellations. So I’ve decided to develop this interest alongside my project so as to be able to work on ideas that have more personal significance to me.

Where am I?

gemini

I’m looking at the myth of Castor and Pollux, the twins that make up the constellation of Gemini. Castor was mortal, and when he died the immortal Pollux begged Zeus to grant his twin eternal life, which is the origin story behind the constellation of the twins.

I did this drawing as a starting point into my project, which will be more illustration-based and explore the mortal/immortal divide as well as astrology and myth which is what I’m specifically looking at with regard to time. I used coloured Micron pens for a change (I usually do black and white dotwork). I am a Gemini myself so this would explain my choice of focus.