the time travelers

This is a painting that I created while at RMCAD. It was a project intended to focus on time. While ruminating over what the piece should be I came across a story in the news that really took hold of me. It was the story of two young girls in China who had committed suicide. They had drowned themselves together in their parents pool; they believed that if they did so they would wake up in another dynasty. Time travel was a popular trend in the chinese culture and zeitgeist. There were many prime-time T.V. shows in which a woman would fall of of a horse, get struck by lightning, or be hit by a car and wake up in another era.

What struck me about the story was the incredible amount of belief that would have been required for these two girls to follow through with their plan. Drowning is one of the hardest forms of suicide, and they could have surfaced at any moment; but they loved each-other and they wanted to go together. To me as much as it is a tragic story, it is also a story about faith, love, and hope. There is nothing to say that these two girls did not succeed in their goal, and have been reunited in another time.

When I read the article the story was only a few hours old, and I started work on the piece immediately, making the piece also a record of my time and experience with the story. Here is a link to the original article if anyone is curious http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/teens-time-travel-attempt-fatal-deadly-die-suicide-china_n_1335487.html

"The Time Travelers"

Acrylic on canvas  5'x5'