Description
I first used charcoal, hoping to create a very black-and-white image with a visual texture and feeling like steel. I attempted to represent the five love languages with my family: my mother is brushing my sister’s hair (acts of service); my father rests his hand on my sister’s left shoulder (physical touch); my sister reads to a treasured stuffed animal (quality time); the stuffed animal presents a gift for her (gift-giving and gift-receiving); and my sister hears positive messages through earbuds (words of affirmation). However, the dark, rigid, and harsh nature of charcoal didn’t match with the idea of love. I then created tears in the paper and added color (with colored pencils) radiating out of these tears. I purposefully created the tears where the five love languages were “impacting” my sister. My hope was to show how love can break through a steel wall and bring out the beautiful vibrancy that every individual has within. I then finished by adding more charcoal on the edges of the paper furthest from the sights of love in order to create a feeling of darkness that encroaches on an individual, darkness that love must break through.
