redemption

this was done for an assignment for a theology class (of all things!) way back then. i've already forgotten what it's for, probably something about drawing yourself bladder bladder bladder.

anyway what i DO remember is my inspiration for this, which was the buddhist folk story about an evil man not stepping on a spider when he was alive. when he was in hell, he was cast in a river where an ogre was standing by to bop the heads of those who surface out of the water (probably just for the sheer fun of it, who knows with ogres). The spider, watching from heaven, saw the evil man who once spared his life so he asked Buddha if he could at least return the mercy once given to him. Buddha being Buddha, agrees.

So the spider spins a thread strong enough to carry the evil man up to heaven, and the spider called out to the evil man to climb the silver thread. Grateful, the evil man did so but when he looked down he saw other people (who were suffering in the same river such as he) were climbing after him. Annoyed and distressed, he swung the thread around so the others would fall, but by doing so the thread broke, and they all fell back into the river where the ogre was waiting for them to bop them on their heads. The End.


so that's why i had lotus-looking plants floating among the muck and stuff. i think it was something about Buddha that said that only in the murkiest pond does the pure lotus come from, or something like that. there's a hand trying to grab that frail silver thread coming from above.

done with a gel pen, ink pen, colored pencils and (my secret weapon) dermatographs!