"The Puzzle of Death" by Santiago F

 

 

Santiago Franco (b. 2007)

The Puzzle of Death, 2024

Inspiration:

The literary work that inspired my piece was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. This book inspired me to recreate the Deathly Hallows since I was very intrigued by the fairytale feel that the Deathly Hallows had. A tale of three artifacts that were seen as the most powerful in the world and if a single person were to possess and master them at the same time, they would become the master of death.

Meaning:

My artwork represents the journey and meaning of the Deathly Hallows. The artwork illustrates what each one represents as well as how they can be seen as pieces of a puzzle to a much larger goal. This relates to the book since Harry Potter himself was the only person in history to ever master all three of the Deathly Hallows.

Medium:

I made a painting to represent this idea because a painting could capture a big picture with a lot of niche details to represent different aspects of the idea.  I added visual descriptions of what each artifact does as well as seven lightning bolts to represent the 7 books of the Harry Potter series.  A painting can also be seen as a puzzle itself much like the Deathly Hallows with every stroke of the brush being a piece of the final completed painting.

Message:

The emotion that the painting is intended to convey is curiosity since several aspects of the painting represent puzzles as well as use for the artifacts beyond uniting them. The Deathly Hallows when united make their possessor the “Master of Death” if they have mastered each one and successfully collect them. However each on has its own ability like the Invisibility Cloak gives you the ability to hide from your enemies, the Resurrection Stone allows you to revive the dead, and the Elder Wand grants you the power to defeat any wizard with that wand.