Self directed project- 'Hereafter' Week 1

It's a new term, it's a new project! This time it's self directed!
Before the Easter holidays, we went on an educational visit to the Pitt rivers museum in Oxford. The Museum holds a huge collection of artifacts but presents them in a unique way; rather than grouping objects together according to their date or country of origin, objects are presented by theme. So, in the jewellery case there were rings from every civilisation imaginable- bronze age to modern day, assyrian to viking. The whole museum is presented in this fashion from shoes to amulets, bows to ceramics, coins to body art.

The things that caught my eye the most were Amulets and other magic charms, cultural patterns, Minerals and crystals. But I really liked the skulls and the skeletons! I spent quite a lot of my time in the museum sketching various skulls:

There were 'skulls of enemies'- bound by twine, impaled on spikes, etc and 'skulls of heroes'- decorated with feathers or decorative stones. I found this value in death interesting. If the tribesmen didn't believe in some form of afterlife, they wouldn't have reason to do this with the skulls of dead men. So why? And what do they believe happens after death?

A painting depicting purgatory by Annibale Carracci

This is what I decided to base my project on; the afterlife.
I'm interested in different cultures' approaches to the afterlife and their art depicting it. I am also very interested in exploring and developing my own thoughts and feelings on the subject matter.
You can read my whole project proposal here.
I chose this theme because I thought that it has a large potential for imagery and big questions. I also knew that I would find the theme challenging, which is exactly what I was looking for. 

Lino prints in silver and white.

The first week is usually spent getting into the groove of a project, starting with research (which can be seen on my afterlife pinterest board). I also got a few books from college about burials. I also produced a few small paintings, prints and illustrations to kick-start my development of ideas.

Right: photograph of a mass grave in 'Tombs, Graves & Mummies' by Paul G. Bahn
Left: My illustration inspired by the photo

Next week, I'm not entirely sure about what I want to do. I'm definitely going to make more pen and ink drawings because I've been enjoying that and took some ink home to make more drawings. We'll see how it goes!