The Questions Inside of Us

Abstract

This piece is inspired by Marcus Aurelius, who was a stoic philosopher and former Roman emperor. His face is broken open to reveal a brain and human anatomy made entirely of question marks.
Even after everything we have learned and everything we think we know, we find ourselves unsure of who we are and are left with many unanswered questions. The stippling effect represents the passage of time. It shows how the body slowly wears down while the mind searches for meaning. The solid black background fades into stippling and becomes clouds made up of the numbers one through twelve, referencing a clock and the movement of time. The red and blue question marks add a glitch effect and a small pop of colour, suggesting moments of distortion within our thoughts.
This piece reflects on life from our first breath to our very last. It looks at how we move through the world carrying questions we may never have answers to; this shapes who we are, the choices we make, and the meaning we try to build before everything eventually fades away.