2020 Hindsight

What is art? According to Aristotle “Art is in the catharsis”, to explore this idea, I set out to create a graphic novel based on the events of the year 2020 through the cathartic lens of nostalgia, a psychological mechanism that guides one from feelings of distress or isolation towards feelings of connection via looking back on our memories.
To find the catharsis in art I utilized the phycological process of nostalgia as an emotive lens to revisit the year 2020, placing the reader in the protagonists’ shoes and guiding them from feelings of distress and isolation towards feelings of reconnection.
This concept was then developed into a sound narrative structure by mapping out the story (what is depicted) and discourse (how its depicted) before placing its sequence of events into the “rebirth” plot.
I then set the scene by placing the story within a visual environment that the protagonist ventures through with the use of architectural principles.
Finally, to communicate this narrative visually I applied techniques used within sequential art which help communicate pace, perspective and emotion and approached the pictorial vocabulary moving between impressionism, expressionism, and abstract art with the goal of influencing the audience to either perceive the story’s events or immerse themselves into the art.
All this combined creates what is known as the manifestation of the aesthetic object, this cannot be seen but is inferred and, in this case, it is the catharsis the art is striving to convey.