Departure

What does it mean to die? Many people believe a person’s soul leaves the body to go elsewhere. Others believe that the electrical signals of a person’s brain cease to fire, and the mind stops interpreting reality. While we cannot be certain at this time, humans have asked this question for over 10,000 years.

Scenes of funerals, crypts, cemeteries, mausoleums, and skulls frighten countless people today and have for a very long time. Should we be afraid of these places? When I made this piece, I sought to answer that question for myself. Within the drawing, I have included some small details, representative of the harmful views I grew up with. A relief on the left face of the sarcophagus shows one person recoiling on the ground as they are stabbed by another person with a spear. A separate relief on the lid shows a grim figure of death, a skull with fingers gripping the lid looking at the grieving visitor. Behind the lid along the long face of the sarcophagus is a relief of flames, a nod to the concept of eternal punishment, specifically hell.