Evie Gazet

This drawing is inspired by H.P Lovecraft’s short story, The Other Gods, along with the Mahayana Buddhist concept of sunyata (emptiness) as explored through philosophers such as Nagarjuna and Nishitani Keji. I explore what would happen to us if we investigated the core or ‘essence’ of our beliefs, concepts and even just ‘selves’ only to find nothing. Whilst many including Nishitani believe sunyata should be embraced by the West as a solution to nihilism, Lovecraft represents an opposition to this by evoking its strangeness and potential destructiveness. I find myself caught between these two positions, curious as to the possibly liberating capacity of sunyata whilst terrified and pessimistic as to whether we can even achieve sunyata without losing something inherent: becoming something alien.

Surrealist artist who explores existential, religious archetypical and psychological themes.