Files
Download Full Text (2.6 MB)
Publication Date
12-1-2023
Description
Entry for the 10th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest. Opening Reception Thursday, February 29th, 2024 Fleet Library, Main Reading Room. Juror: Ian Cozzens BArch 05.
Keywords
artists' books, Baker & Whitehill
Disciplines
Book and Paper
Student Status
Graduate student
Year of Graduation
2025
Major
Illustration
Faculty / Course
Susan Doyle, and Jean Blackburn. Grad Illustration Studio - 01
Materials + Techniques
Digital printed
Student Narrative
"The Outcast" serves as the first chapter of a larger original dystopian fantasy graphic novel. Using conquering water as a metaphor for human’s greed, it depicts a world where the ground is submerged after a flood, and the surviving humans gain the ability to walk on water, while everything else and their bodies irreversibly sink to the deep sea after death. Conflicts revolve around the illegal salvage of the corpse and the city administration system, satirizing the uselessness of human’s constant pursuit of territorial expansion and struggle to escape death.
This graphic novel project regards the Sea as a collective consciousness, implying the symbolism of a god. In this alternative reality, The Sea accepts the Good that it identifies with and rejects the Evil. Humans stand on the water's surface as their souls, filled with desires, are rejected by the Sea. Only when their souls leave their bodies, can humans finally return to the ocean floor.
The cover of this chapter draws inspiration from the first card of the Tarot's Major Arcana, The Fool, subtly hinting at the protagonist's character and destiny. In the upcoming chapters, each one will feature different protagonists or perspectives, seemingly unrelated but interconnected stories within the same worldview. This approach aims to depict the lives, destinies, and resistance of humanity in the sweeping currents of this era.
Photo Credit
Miles Tong 2025 FAV
Recommended Citation
Du, Esther; Collections, Special; and Library, Fleet, "The Outcast" (2023). 10th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest 2024. 14.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/bookcontest10th2024/14