Open Earth / Carbon Drop

This piece is called “Izanami”. In Japanese mythology, Izanami is known as the goddess of creation and death. A lot of my work is heavily inspired by Japanese culture, anime, and fantasy, so I felt Izanami was the perfect embodiment of our climate drop’s statement to the world. We have the responsibility to educate ourselves and others to be better to our home planet, because while it has the ability to provide beauty and life (creation), it also has the power to create destruction and chaos (death).

My interpretation of this Japanese Goddess blends these stark contrasts through three personas. On one side you have the embodiment of darkness (greed, chaos, destruction), while the right side portrays the light (creation, positivity, passion). The center embodiment of Izanami represents the balance between these two (neutrality, balance). As human beings, we too can take on characteristics of all of these personas through our actions, especially when it comes to our relationship with our planet. We’re at an inflection point, flirting with danger befalling the planet due to our negligence and ignorance (inferred by the central spire pointing its sharp end towards the lower eye flower). It is ultimately up to us (and in our best interest) to take small steps and positive action to protect our home. In some ways, the planet may share with us more of its beauty (creation), in other ways it could show its ugliness as we harm the planet further (destruction). Whether we choose the path that ensures the survival and nurturing of this planet, or the path that ensures its eventual destruction, earth itself is a neutral passenger that is just along for the ride. We have the power and responsibility to make changes today for a better and more beautiful tomorrow.

This piece is important to me for a variety of reasons. The first because I feel that I can tell a story through my artwork and set an example for other creators to use their art for positive impact. Additionally, this particular artwork is a pretty important milestone in my career as an artist. I haven’t released much of my own personal work in the past few years, and often struggle with honing in on my own style/aesthetic since I jump between so many mediums and aesthetics from project to project. It also doesn’t help that I’m a perfectionist and a harsh critic of my own work. Like no joke, I will literally spend DAYS fine tuning colors, getting the grain “just right”, or experimenting well past where a normal person would consider a work complete.

I feel after this year of personal growth and creative explorations (and taking that risk of doing the personal art projects), I’ve finally honed in on an aesthetic with my work that I feel not only captures my own unique flair, but feels right to my core (which is really silly, vivid, and weird to be honest). I truly believe that aesthetics evolve and change over time with experimentation, but that doesn’t manifest unless you put the time in trying new things and constantly find new ways to be inspired. This work is one of the first artworks I’m releasing that fine tunes years of notebook scribbles, notes/thoughts in journals/digital notebooks, visual deep dives, experimentation, and endless troughs of Pinterest boards.