Krystal Lu
Hyperobject: Zen
Prompt: ILLUSTRATE A HYPEROBJECT: Hyperobjects have been called Viscous, Molten, Nonlocal, Phased, and Interobjective, all beautiful but hard-to-define terms that require many, strategically chosen words to describe. What about illustrating visually? How can you represent a Hyperobject visually?
I have chosen the theme of religion to explore my understanding of the hyper object. In particular, Buddhism is the one I can personally relate to the most as it is inextricably linked to my cultural background and family influences, which I further develop and emphasize the concept of Zen. Initially, I was thinking about whether to convey the longevity of religious culture in a more conceptual and non-figurative way, along with a simpler representation. But in the process, I decided that I was more emotionally driven and expressive. Religion itself is transcending humanity and examining life, and death, anew from a higher, purer dimension. Each religion offers a new worldview, and such ideas permeate into the little moments of life. Thus rather I chose to depict the image of Buddha in an obscure manner as it is incorporated into the mountains and river represented by scrabble paper and ink textures. I also wanted to indicate the contrast between the subtleness given by the Buddha figure, and the progressive intensity of ink and charcoal.