Sisyphus

The song “InniMnih” (that I’m okay) from Mashrou' Leila’s album El Hal Romancy (The Solution is Romantic) inspired me to make the following drawing, especially this verse:

كان بدى غير العالم مش عارف كيف العالم غيرنى كان بدى احمل السماء وهلأ أنجق حامل نفسى قول اننى منيح

Which translates to:

I wanted to change the world, I don't know how the world changed me. I wanted to carry the sky on my shoulders. Now I have trouble carrying myself. let’s say that I am okay

Not only did I make Sisyphus carry the skies, I made him carry the whole universe. Under the weight of the galaxy, he struggles to walk. Cursed with billions of stars on his shoulders. The image is frightening yet beautiful. Things are put into perspective if you gaze long enough at the picture. What are our idle problems and concerns compared to the size of the universe? How small our overblown trials must be when put next to the vast space beyond our blue planet? Yet, the endless process of rolling a boulder up a hill to watch it tumble back down again must be tormenting. It’s frustrating to say the least. But here I must add the last words from ‘the myth of Sisyphus’ by Albert Camus:

One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

“Let’s say that I am okay”, “one must imagine Sisyphus happy”. There’s a pattern here. The image projected of each one – how he’s perceived – is put to focus. Particularly, and in each of our cases, the projected image is that of a man in high spirits, as if that is the ultimate goal one should aspire to reach. I won’t argue the veracity of these statements. But I must stress the psychological effect they induce: the self-fulfilling prophecy. Self-fulfilling prophecy are effects in behavioral confirmation effect, in which behavior, influenced by expectations, causes those expectations to come true. Of course, if all it needed was high expectations to cause these to come true all the people would be successful, prosperous and living the high life. But people’s interests clash and conflicts of interests arise. Fake it till you make it.

I used acrylic to paint the boulder black and pastel to color the galaxies inside it. I highlighted Sisyphus with a black marker and used charcoal to define him more.