Kawa no Kami , The River God
Miyazaki is a huge inspiration in my life. His movies inspired my childhood love of animals and nature, and the many artists who worked on his films charged my creative spirit. Our planet has been in the news quite often regarding rising waters, climate change, disappearing forests, and pollution. This scene from spirited away always stuck with me; it was grounding, but spoke in a friendly, welcoming tone. Miyazaki wanted to remind his audience that our actions have consequences we may not be able to see, and many things suffer in these decisions.
Pollution is a real problem, whether it immediately affects us or not. In making this piece, I discovered just how much becomes "trash". After drawing 10 different objects I feel are frequently discarded, I had to look to my studio to realize that everything I own, at some point, may feed into the problem. Light fixtures, furniture, teacups, paint bottles, speakers, curtains, you name it. Everything suddenly became garbage in my eyes and it was pretty unsettling.
