This exercise was a bit vague and yet very specific in nature, in that the topics were so open-ended, but the images that came to mind were all very particular. That could also be because the topic I chose was so familiar to me, considering it is one of the things I thing about everyday and a lot of times during the day, and never in terms of words.

The word I chose was Childhood.

As instructed, I poured all out on a sheet of paper the moment my pencil touched the paper, and then used water colours to give it vibrancy. Although, I’m not entirely sure if I did it correctly.

This first page, after giving it some time to settle, I guess this one was more about the more peaceful, slow paced things that happened in my childhood, things I let go of, things I kept, and things I eventually gained control of; things like strength, fear, addiction and confidence, or even love for that matter, all representated by random things and people. I think the one that meant the most to me was the arm, which symbolises the evolution of my character, from feeble and introverted to outspoken and undaunted, as I approached the end of my school life. Splashes of green were used to signify peace, but of a temptational kind, red represented outright aggressive or volatile.

This page, I realised only after completing both pages, was far more violent and disturbing, unintentionally made so. Things like my tendency to fall and scrape my knees on the course ground of my building, or the time I broke my tooth after a friend accidentally shoved my face into the wall of my building lobby during a game of tag, but these were superficial wounds, the more emotional ones being the period of depression that I was engulfed by after shifting to a new city (washed in a light blue-grey), or the bullies I would face between grade 4 and 8, and the fantasies I had of retaliation. Another very important aspect was my rivalry with my younger brother, something that continues to exist, but to an atomic extent. I also realised it was far easier to draw the negatives, than it was to draw the more peaceful or happier ones.