Duality

This pen and ink artist trading cards explore duality and nuance, with meaning changing based on how the cards are paired. Set One is inspired by The Summer Hikaru Died; the cards separately show a healing and harmful touch, but when together, reveal the complexity of both qualities existing at once. Set Two depicts a woman and skeleton, and when joined, brings up questions of mortality. The man and the cupcake combine to reference adult loneliness when joined, contrasting a childlike treat and a cigarette. Set Four looks like a grocery exchange, but the fish card reminds of the animal lives taken to create the products. The final pair shows the tearing down of forests into cities, a human standing where trees once did. Working on these cards made me think about the strange ways we join and connect. I liked the idea of trading the pairs away to different people, to encourage connection. The cards would never be whole, unless the two come together to create the whole nuanced picture.