Where Two Passions Collide

ART & ORPHANS. TOGETHER.

This page contains some of my personal artwork that is centered around orphans. Every artwork has a story behind it, and here you, the viewer, has a chance to read and discover the meaning behind these drawings, and how they came to be.

An Orphan's Life Series

Abandoned: For a child to become an orphan, he or she must first be abandoned. At the orphanage that I got to work at while in India, almost every single one of those children were either abandoned by their parents because of death, or their parents willingly left them, usually leaving them for the village to decided what was going to happen to them next.    

 

Enslaved: After being abandoned and left for the village people to decide their fate, these orphans were often used as village slaves. Given little amount of food, poor shelter, and treated with much hostility, these children endured harsh conditions and treatment, all because their parents didn't want them or left. Within the city, sometimes children are under the control of pimps and are sent out in the streets as beggars. All the money collected is given to the pimp, not the child. Usually some of the children are purposefully given handicaps in attempt to collect more money from pedestrians. A blind child will get more money than a seemingly healthy one.

Hope: There is always hope for a child, whether they know it or not, because God is sovereign. However, this drawing is about Jesus as their hope. At the orphanage that I worked at, once the children were brought to live there, they had hope. They were well fed, cared for, educated, but more importantly, they began to learn about Jesus. And Jesus became their hope.

 Love: Love is a powerful thing. It's a painful feeling, but also a wonderful one to experience. During my time in India at the orphanage, I experienced God's love like never before. I loved those kids with all my heart and more, and they poured love on me in so many ways, which has forever changed my heart. That summer I adopted so many orphans, and was adopted by so many of them myself. God's family is truly the most loving one of all.  

 Nicholas The Funny

 

Nicholas was the youngest little boy at the orphanage. When I first saw him I thought he was a very sad and unhappy kid; however, the next day we went to the orphanage I saw that he was a rather happy boy with a great sense of humor. Just like any boy, he was a mess at times, but everyday he would make me laugh with his silly faces and crazy personality.

Broken India

Broken India is a piece of artwork that resembles the fight of darkness (Satan) and light (Jesus) within the country of India. The piece is constructed of mostly lines, with henna tattoo designs as the patterns featured, and is completely done with sharpies on illustration board.

Orphans

In one of my drawing classes I had to produce what is called an emotional piece of artwork. It's were the viewer can feel, sense, or see the emotion that the artist was experiencing or wishing to convey. This multimedia artwork was based off of a photo that I took in India of some village kids praying at school. In the background are some sketches in pencil of other pictures that I took, and then quotes and Scriptures concerning our duty to care for the poor and orphaned. I used the colors red, blue, and yellow to express the diverse emotions I experienced while in India, which are the same emotions I feel now. Yellow for joy, because my time in India was very joyful as I played and bonded with the people I met there; red for love and passion, because it is raging within me; and blue for tears, because it is heartbreaking for me to see people treated as they are, and my trip to India was anything but easy.

....More artwork to come....