I’m trying to put together a schematic which states in the simplest terms possible what this project is currently about and the “rules” I’m establishing for making these crayon drawings. My husband Alex who is an animator and filmmaker has told me in the past that there is a saying in filmmaking: you have to be able to sum up what your film is about in a single sentence. So although there’s certainly a lot more to these themes than what I’ve written below, it helps me to look at them in their most distilled form.
Rules for drawing
1. 5 sheets of clear Dura-Lar.
2. Each sheet is thoroughly sanded, in no specific direction.
3. Only the greasiest crayons are used: Korn’s #00 and lithographic rubbing ink.
4. All crayon marks are directly drawn, there is no smudging allowed.
Environmental Themes
1. Water as a sustaining and destructive substance.
2. Water consuming us, us consuming water.
Emotional themes
1. Isolation, specifically loneliness.
2. The most bitter form of loneliness is when it is experienced in a group context.
3. The experience of loneliness in a group context: feeling unseen or unknown in the group
In thinking about loneliness in its most concentrated form, I remember my sister once sent out one of those email questionnaires that have random questions for you to answer. One of the questions was “what is your greatest fear?”. Both my brother and I responded with “to die in a really terrible” way. My sister’s answer eclipsed our response: “to be all alone with no friends or family”.
Clara Lieu 