The Guardian
Caitlin D.
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This piece is from my AP Art and Design investigation and centers around the question of how I can depict characters of old mythology as if they existed in the modern world. For this specific piece, I focused on Anubis, the Ancient Egyptian god who took charge of funerary rites, protecting graves from grave robbers, and guiding souls into the underworld. I chose the topic because ancient mythology has been a topic that has interested me since childhood. As will all the pieces for my class, I researched heavily to help me refine my concept, and allow me to have a better-informed final piece. Because Anubis is jackal-headed in depictions, due to jackals tending to dig up bodies, especially in earlier dynastic periods, I placed a jackal on the subject's side, and his hair is similar in shape to depictions as well. His posing takes inspiration from that of Ancient Egyptian art, in which people were always depicted with their chest facing front and the rest of them facing to the side. He faces to the left, or the assumed 'west' because the west side of the Nile was where they buried their dead, as it was where the sun god Ra would enter the underworld every night when the sun set. The disk in the background contains stylized lotuses for Anubis' connection to Isis, both through his role in resurrecting her husband, Osiris, and as her son, especially in later dynastic periods. I informed my color choices with symbolism from Ancient Egypt, using black and green for rebirth and life, blue for the heavens and holiness, and gold for holiness as well as prestige. For my process, I used an iPad, Apple Pencil, and Procreate app. I used the symmetry tool to assist with the disk, and revised the piece, especially the disk and the jackal, several times.
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Exploring and expressing my creativity positively impacts my life, because it allows me a place to explore myself and the world around me.
