I was safe from these things not because they didn’t exist, but because they were an ocean away-and even still, it was best to be cautious when out after dark,” Alexa recounts, “When I was a bit older, once we started regularly returning to Cebu, my ties to my heritage as well as these superstitions really crystallized. “I think what really stuck with me, even if these stories of both spirits and monsters were good fun, was the level of belief my relatives held and passed on to us. “I was safe from these things not because they didn’t exist, but because they were an ocean away-and even still, it was best to be cautious when out after dark.” Raised in a closely knit neighborhood, she fondly remembers reading an entire box of books of local myths and legends from her maternal aunt. Filipinos are known for their belief in the supernatural and Alexa’s family was no exception. In fact, I still have shelves crammed full of my favorite childhood picture books! Early on, I decided I would do just that: I wanted to tell stories with art,” she says.Īll the same, being half-Filipino, Alexa mentions she owes much to her heritage and upbringing. “I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of beautiful art working together with great stories, even before I really knew what design was. Hyde and The Scarlet Letter, Alexa also enjoyed Japanese work from Junji Ito and CLAMP, citing manga as her biggest pop culture influence. Growing up on Gothic classics such as The Strange Case of Dr.
The Los Angeles-based artist is recognized on the internet for her affiliation with horror and Gothic literature and her elegantly terrifying art style rooted in the use of lush backdrops and dark, shadowy visuals, usually accompanying stories either original (Dressed for Death, a series recounting tales of murders and tragedies) or adapted (for her thesis, Alexa illustrated Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber anthology). So goes the introduction of illustrator Alexa Sharpe for Espiritu: Visayan Ghost Stories, her online series of short fiction and art. Jump through smoke before you leave the places of the dead, and nail dried palm crosses to the door. So cover mirrors if you’d like, avert your eyes from windows blackened in the dark.
They can follow you right into your home. There are ghosts all around us, don’t you know? Those souls that haunt jungled hills, the far corners of a graveyard, may very well show up under a blinking streetlamp in your town.
0 kommentar(er)
