Alone again (naturally)

2021 was a tough year, not just because of the pandemic. Challenges in my personal life and career proved to be tough obstacles that I had to contend with on top of the regular burdens of being an easily discouraged young adult living in a terrible recession and due for a quarter-life crisis. Navigating all of these undesirable circumstances was something I found to be akin to the repetitive act of video game characters fighting their way up haunted castles or teetering ruins in an often vertical journey to access forbidden treasures or simply progress in the game - an act that also proves Sisyphean when the level is set to its highest difficulty and the enemies repeatedly succeed in overpowering the character, sending them flying off the structure they are trying to ascend or just pass through.

 Unlike the non-sentient video game avatar, the player controlling it is not immune to the emotional toll of endless failure. This illustration depicts the character at the summit of a structure plagued by hostile entities, which usually indicates the accomplishment of a difficult feat; however, it is not triumph that the character is feeling, but something more realistic and relatable.

The title of the artwork is taken from Gilbert O’Sullivan’s 1971 song of the same name as the loneliness and hopelessness described in it perfectly encapsulates what I am trying to express here.