Societal Pressures and Forced Suicide
There's a story behind this shot that I thought I'd share you guys. I originally came up with the idea while I was thinking about the direction I wanted to take the letter F in my Emotional Alphabet series. I wanted to do something with fear and I started to get inspiration from some horror movies with serial killer stalker type people. As I looked at the thoughts I had written down, I noticed that it all sounded a bit clichéd really and I'm not one to settle on any specific idea. So I started branching out to other things. I got to thinking about a game called Persona where the users hold a gun to their heads to activate a demon inside of them (fun game) and led me to thinking about the limited life we live (which is a prevalent theme in my work). I started thinking about the concept of a forced suicide, wherein a person is held against their will to off themselves.
I was listening to Bad Religion at the time and I was reminded of the song called Dharma and the Bomb. This got me thinking about the Hindu gods with their multiple arms and heads. I ended up going on a huge researching spree gaining tons of knowledge about the religion. It's definitely an interesting subject if you ever have the time to read up on it. I found that there is this ritualistic practice of suicide amongst certain Hindu sects. It got me wondering about the people who've killed themselves through suicide practices like these. There must be some that felt pressured and scared to kill themselves, but ultimately gave in and took their own lives with a metaphorical gun to their head. I wanted to combine this idea of societal pressure with a holy ascension and forcibly committing suicide. What I got was Aatmhatya Ishvara or The God of Suicide. The worried look on his face combined with his own hands pointed at him and the hands of others making sure he commits I feel elicits some really powerful emotions.
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~~Writing Light Across The Land~~
