Imran Shafi
Fine Arts (Studio Arts)
Pen-and-ink drawing: “Stroke Permanence,” 2008

Intrigued by Lewis Carroll’s large book collection on such subjects as dreams, fairies, myths, and alternative religions, Shafi reflects in this piece on how the author of the Alice stories must have dwelt on spiritual and nonphysical matters. The result is a delicate work that reveals some of the psychology and creative potential within Carroll’s imagination. In producing this entry, the artist declared that he operated from a purely instinctual, spiritual state akin to how Carroll might have composed his famous works. While Alice Liddell, the Mad Hatter, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Cheshire Cat, the Gryphon, the Caterpillar, the White Rabbit, and Lewis Carroll himself are all clearly identifiable, other characters may emerge on repeat viewings.