Original artwork description:

I imagined anthropology not as an academic field, but as an excavation of the self, a journey through layers of being. I sought to portray the superimposed strata of human formation, stagnation, and decay. I imagined the human condition as a geological cross-section, where time leaves its imprint through sedimented experiences. The lower layers of the figure are rocky and ancient - a reference to an inorganic, primal state of existence. As the eye moves upward, traces of vegetation and fungi emerge, symbols of biological life and transformation. Finally, the silhouette culminates in the sculpted profile of a face, a quiet, contemplative presence that evokes the dawning of self-awareness. The background is entirely covered in gold leaf, an intentional nod to the sacred, not in a religious sense, but in the timeless, iconic way that gold suspends the subject outside of temporality. Against this luminous void, the dark, eroded figure seems both monumental and fragile, shaped by forces beyond its control. Through this painting, I explore how identity is not a fixed essence, but a layered construct, one part nature, one part memory, one part consciousness. Anthropology is, to me, an act of inner archaeology.

Materials used:

oil, gold leaf

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