Harmony

By Anna, aged 13 from Streatham & Clapham High School

Harmony
 
The theme I chose is “Why do animals’ matter?” 
I thought about how we should love and take care of animals, as well as how they have had such a huge cultural significance around the world and throughout time. My vision for my artwork is celebrating variety and differences and showing that however big, small, strong, or weak something or someone is, we can all live in harmony. 
The religions I have chosen to focus on through my piece are Buddhism and Christianity. This is because I think animals play a huge part in their stories and beliefs; for example, in Christianity the story of Noah’s Ark has huge significance to Christians since it demonstrates both the ‘gravity of God’s justice’ and the ‘premise of his salvation’. In the story of Noah’s Ark, animals went in twos which also shows the importance of companionship, which is demonstrated in my piece. In Buddhism, animals are also significant because Buddhism requires us to treat animals kindly. Buddhists also try to do no harm (as little as possible) to animals. Animals also play a big part in Buddhist art and some art pieces include lions, horses, elephants and deer. 
In my piece, I used a range of materials including watercolour paints, colouring pencils, granite pencils and black pen. The animals I included in my artwork are the African Bush Elephant and the Menecals Blue Morpho Butterfly. The splashes of colour that surround the elephant and butterfly represent colour and variety and celebrate diversity throughout the world. I made them by blowing through a straw and letting the watercolour splatter across the page. 
The reason I chose to include an elephant and a butterfly is because the African Bush Elephant is the strongest animal on earth; however, the Menecals Blue Morpho Butterfly is one of the weakest. This represents the contrast between the two animals and, as I mentioned earlier, that however big or small, strong or weak an animal or person or even a country is, we can all live alongside each other in peace and harmony. 
My favourite aspect of my artwork is all the different media and materials I used since it allowed me to be creative (like how I used a straw to create the splashes of watercolour). I also like all the colours in the piece since it allows you to let your eyes wander and discover the meaning behind it.