Alex In Wonderland

This is my cousin’s daughter Alex: intelligent, confident, resilient, and brash. I was fortunate enough to acquire a graduation picture of her that captured these qualities towards fabricating a concept depicting her deeper instincts, character, history, and manner of being on both a mundane and esoteric level. To begin, a railway stop labeled “VENUS” (ruling planet of her birth sign) featuring a clock reading “4:21” (Alex’s birth month and day) while the “Emerald Lines Platform No. 3” stenciled on the end of the platform references her birthstone and ruling number. Pictured in Alex’s right hand are poppies (her birth flower), and in her left, “talking feather” (to honour her Métis heritage). The luggage embodies her want of independence, expansion, and growth while the haloed, horned tattoo on her right leg evokes both birth sign and her maternal grandmother’s fond pet name: “Angel Babe.” The lone dragonfly acknowledges her love of nature, independence, and, of course, dragonflies. As for the richer significance of the illustration, the limitlessness of Alex’s courage, imagination, and desire are rendered by way of numerous visual references. Specifically, her dangling her feet over the edge of an airborne train platform floating high within an ominous—yet optimistic—bank of clouds in recognition of both the light and dark aspects of one’s life journey. Finally, a weathered, rudderless boat suspended from the bottom of two hot-air balloons attests to her imagination and open-mindedness. To this end, we see Alex as the adventuresome captain of her own destiny. One might very well ask of it all, “Has she just arrived, or is she off to some other exotic, unknown destination?”

If you know Alex, you know the answer.

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