editor letter

Dear Prattlers,

If you’re like me, specific moments in time can be best pinpointed by a key fixation. To combat extreme childhood anxiety and insomnia, I was given a stack of books, a reading light, and the instructions to read until my eyes couldn’t physically stay open. This awoke in me the voracious need to consume books as if they were oxygen. My teenage access to Wattpad led to trying my hand at writing, which turned me onto the path I follow today as a writing major. A childhood infatuation with “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” still sculpts my work and the emo phase I never quite got over sets the soundtrack. What I mean to say is that maybe our obsessions never fully leave us and instead just snowball into something bigger until they become a part of our personality and lifestyle. Without these long-term fixations, who might I have become? Would I be here, writing this letter today?

For this issue, we chose to focus on the role of how “Obsession,” a large part of being human, plays into so much of our daily activities and choices. Was it not an obsession with the arts that drew you to Pratt Institute? Does this not continue to fuel your drive and hard work as you persevere through the spring semester?

This issue was born out of a need to speak about our obsessions within today’s popular culture–– our fixation on the lives of celebrities, our infatuation with “sad girls” and their beautiful tragedies, and the morbid rise of true crime entertainment, just to name a few. But is this overwhelming passion inherently good or bad? Find out within the pages of this issue.

Enthusiastically Yours,

Behind The Cover

In the emergence of the digital age, an exaggerated sense of self-importance and the desire for attention or validation leads to a distorted sense of reality, causing oneself to become obsessed. We succumb to the constant barrage of intrusive thoughts, consumed by the desire to enhance ourselves beyond recognition. When creating the cover for this issue’s theme– the thought of using my own model seemed most appropriate. The thought of seeing my own face magnified and reproduced in countless copies seemed most fulfilling.

Once I had scanned myself in 3D, I abstracted the figure to evoke a sense of emptiness, in response to the undeniable void that arises when we become solely fixated on obsessing over something. The sharp needle detailing that pierces through the model serves to intensify the feeling of inadequacy that can come from neglecting other aspects of life, pulling us deeper into the void. The mirrors add depth to the metaphorical and literal act of reflecting upon ourselves. My aim was to create visuals that were captivating– and in a way, dreamy, as an attempt to illustrate the romanticized way that one might view an obsession towards something. Or perhaps even the illusion that this sensation may induce, as one may fantasize about.

The pull of obsession is unique to oneself; an intensely personal experience. But let us not shy away from this pull, for in it lies the source of our greatest passions and potential for self-discovery. Let us relish in it while we can, and let our art be a reflection of our innermost obsessions.

Continuing on the same theme–I’d like to express the utmost gratitude toward my own efforts and hard work.

MELANIE LEUNG WWW.MELANIE.WTF

By Ian M. Fastert

Trent Bangle

Emma Vall

Tanvi Kumar

By Daniel DeMarse

Hannah Power

Krissy Williams

Naomi Desai

Hadley Uribe

The Cyclical Canvas

BY ANNA MONTALTO