Ernie Drew – An Emotional Map of My Life

Life is not two dimensional. The line exercise forced me to think about what has happened to me in the last 80 years. I realized that there is a multi-dimensional aspect to one’s life line. There are colors, textures, amplitude, brightness, and emotions that can be illustrated. 

I remembered two photographs that I had taken in the past one was very dark and one opened up to the light.  I felt they could be combined into a abstract piece of art that reflected the many dimensions of a lifeline.

Having merged the photographs, the attributes spoke to me and I made a conscious effort at reflecting the emotions of my life. I see at the macro level, I had turbulent early years progressing towards a sense of calm.

Photos to be combined

Progression of Edits

An Emotional Map of My Life

The foreground reflects the emotional turbulence of early life both good and bad The Dome lower center reflects isolation and is also representative of my military service.  the second dark area represents the conflict of interpersonal relation with family and others. The areas of lighter topography reflect the less chaotic emotions after age 60.