illustrations

Brain and Chain/Αλυσοδεμενος Εγκεφαλος

*‘Brain and Chain’ illustration by Angela Zafiris*

My drawing was inspired by the topic of mental health. In the past few years there has been an increase of people struggling with mental health issues.

Historically a ball and chain was used to restrict a prisoner’s freedom. We use the phrase figuratively when someone or something is limiting our progress. For those that have mental health issues the brain can be like a ball with the constant negative thought patterns, and other symptoms that can be debilitating for some people.

“Mental illness… occurs when our mental health is compromised or neglected for so long that it affects our ability to function in our everyday life.” -Kati Morton

Το σχέδιό μου εμπνεύστηκε από το θέμα της ψυχικής υγείας. Τα τελευταία χρόνια έχει παρατηρηθεί αύξηση των ανθρώπων που παλεύουν με προβλήματα ψυχικής υγείας.

Ιστορικά, μια μπάλα και μια αλυσίδα χρησιμοποιούνταν για να περιορίσουν την ελευθερία ενός κρατουμένου. Χρησιμοποιούμε τη φράση μεταφορικά όταν κάποιος ή κάτι περιορίζει την πρόοδό μας. Για όσους έχουν προβλήματα ψυχικής υγείας, ο εγκέφαλος μπορεί να είναι σαν μια μπάλα με τα συνεχή αρνητικά μοτίβα σκέψης και άλλα συμπτώματα που μπορεί να είναι εξουθενωτικά για ορισμένους ανθρώπους.

«Η ψυχική ασθένεια… εμφανίζεται όταν η ψυχική μας υγεία διακυβεύεται ή παραμελείται για τόσο μεγάλο χρονικό διάστημα που επηρεάζει την ικανότητά μας να λειτουργούμε στην καθημερινή μας ζωή». – Kati Morton

On the Verge of Extinction?

‘*Extinct Species’ illustration by Angela Zafiris*

Lately, there has been a lot of talk in the scientific community about an asteroid called ‘2024 yr4’. There were fears that the asteroid could strike our planet and cause great destruction in the year 2032.

However, after studying the asteroid for two months, scientists now say that the asteroid poses no threat to our planet.

This news had me thinking about one particular species that were wiped out by an enormous asteroid. The dinosaurs first appeared on the earth over 200 million years ago and around 66 million years ago, an asteroid about 6 miles wide struck the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. This massive impact caused ecosystems to die off, and with no plant life the dinosaurs died off due to starvation.

History tends to repeat itself. We homosapiens are the dominant species on earth right now, just like the dinosaurs once were. What if we were to suffer the same fate?

There could be survivors, but I don’t think that our popluation will ever reach 8 billion again.

Survival of the…

Survival of the fittest? Strongest? Craziest? Most deluded? Resilient? Most fortunate?

What does it take to survive in these uncertain times?

“The survival of the fittest is the ageless law of nature, but the fittest are rarely the strong. The fittest are those endowed with the qualifications for adaptation, the ability to accept the inevitable and conform to the unavoidable, to harmonize with existing or changing conditions.|”-Dave Smalley

Great Expectations/Μεγάλες Προσδοκίες

‘*Great Expectations’ illustration by Angela Zafiris*

Happy International Women’s day!

The drawing is a comparison of two generations of women. So much has changed in a hundred years.

When I compare my generation with my mother’s and my grandmother’s I can’t believe how different each generation is.

For example, the women from my grandmother’s generation were only required to get married and have lots of children, do some farm work, and that’s about it.

With my mothers’ generation, women were expected to get married, have a few children, get a job, be great cooks, cleaners and hosts.

Then with my generation of women, we are still expected to get married, have children (maybe one or two), get a higher education, be great chefs, mothers (helicopter mother), wives (no nagging), cleaners, and hosts. But, then there is more added to the plate. She must have impeccable hygiene, dress stylish, be classy, get plastic surgery, be extremely knowledgable- a walking encyclopedia, learn many languages, have many skills and hobbies, have many friends, experiences, travel the world, do men’s work etc.

We have more options, opportunities and equality than ever before, but too much has been put on our plates. A modern woman has to be an extraordinary human being. The bar has been set very high. No excuses anymore. Not with all the options that women before us didn’t have. And although some women can achieve many things in their life, not all women can or even want to…

This type of life is exhausting, and only for people who are made of steel, with never-ending energy deposits, and who possess iron-clad stomachs.

There have been many surveys published in the recent years that have revealed that women are more stressed than men https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/women-stress

According to the survey more and more women feel burned out due to having to balance their home life with a career. Also, they don’t feel that men contribute enough. The truth is that young women today have been exploited and burnt out by modern society. The majority of modern women are over-worked, stressed, angry, anxiety-ridden, and financially insecure. This is a topic that is not discussed enough in any country, as it should be.

Peace Together

The title “Peace together” is a play on the words ‘piece together’. It is very current theme given the 2 major conflicts that are happening in the world. I don’t know if there could ever be peace on earth given the nature of humans, and the many things that divide us.

But, any person who truly cares for other human beings and is sensitive soul like myself peace on earth is something that we truly wish for and hope for on this hostile planet.

‘Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.’ – Ernest Hemingway

‘The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him’. – G.K. Chesterton

‘Only the dead have seen the end of war.’ – Plato

The Law of (Attraction) Deceit?

The concept of the law of attraction is that like attracts like and that we create our reality through our thoughts.

The roots of this ‘law’ can be traced back to the Babylonians and Ancient Egyptians. It can be found in the teachings of Buddhism and Christianity.

It gained popularity in our modern era by the occultist Helena Blavatsky in her book ‘The Secret Doctrine‘ and then the even more modern, and successful book ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Bryne, and then another famous book by Napoleon Hill called “Think and Grow Rich’ and many, many more books. Through the teachings in these book people were instructed to change their thoughts, ‘what you think you create’ as if people are born with magical powers. Also, we learned about vision boards and meditative techniques to attract what we want.

But, I have questions: do people really have the powers of manifestation or is everything simply in the cards, already pre-determined by fate?

Also, If the law of attraction is real than why do horrible things happen to happy, positive people?

One thing is for sure, the only people who truly prospered from the law of attraction were those who wrote books about it 😉

““Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”-Napoleon Hill

“⁷Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”.-Matthew 7:7-8 King James Bible

““If you want it and expect it, it will be yours very soon.”
– Esther Hicks

“All that we are is a result of what we have thought.”
– Buddha

LIFE IS DEADLY/Η ΖΩΗ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΘΑΝΑΤΗΦΟΡΑ

A few weeks ago I made this drawing. I wasn’t in a very pessimistic mood and didn’t know why I drew it. Than fastforward to September 5ΤΗ and Storm Daniel pummels Greece. The most rainfall I have every witness in Athens and a disatrous flooding for Thessalia region in the North. On the news I saw images of people being transported by tractors through the flood waters. Greece’s agriculture has been devasted and set back many years. Thessalia, which I had visited earlier this year, has the most flat lands in Greece. Greece is a very mountainous country, and most of the land is not very fertile. Thessalia produces most of Greece’s wheat, and they grow cotton and apples as well as other produce.

It is devastting to see lives destroyed, houses submerged in water and the death toll rising. In addition to all of the livestock that have drowned in the flood.. it is all very heartbreaking

This year has been a dreadful year full of deadly accidents and natural disasters. From deadly earthquakes in Turkey to Morocco to deadly storms all over the world and one specific storm-storm Daniel has, shockingly, taken thousands of lives in Libya.

Humanity is most definetly at a strange and scary crossroads. Is it the end? Well it was for many of those who didn’t survive and for the rest of us who are still here..well it sure feels like it.

“People keep telling me that life goes on, but to me that’s the saddest part.” — Unknown

The ‘New Normal?’

Well, July is finally gone! One of my least favourite months of the year 😦

Oh boy, what a scorcher July was! Here in Greece we were hit with a three week looooong heatwave. The hottest ever in recorderd history! Many people like myself refused to leave the house. It was just so unbearable at all times of the day. You rish dehydration and heat exhaustion. I felt bad for the tourists who were brave enough to come to Athens in July. They knew it was going to be hot, but not this hot! Everytime I turned on my air conditioner I was so grateful for this invention! I raised my arms in homage to the 13th god of heating and cooling. I could not have survived with a fan. Which is useless when your room temperatrue is 36 degrees celcius!

On the news, I kept on hearing talk about ‘global boiling’ and ‘the new normal’. The last phrase annoys me so much. This is not something we should get used to. If all of these weather abnormalites are the result of climate change-which is man-made-and it can be reveresed.. than why not reverse it? What else needs to happen so that moumental changes can be made? Why are we accepting this ‘new normal’?

This ‘new normal’ means death..

W.H.O Warning

There have been many dire warnings about our health recently. From the W.H.O (The World Health Organization) issued a warning about a future deadly pandemic – ‘Disease X’, that is 70% more deadlier than covid.

Then the W.H.O warned against artificial sweetners, like Sucralose found in Splenda, cause cancer, and damage to Dna.

Then the W.H.O said that very hot drinks can cause esophageal cancer.

Who knows what else we are consuming that in the future will be exposed as dangerous..

Poseidon Laughs/Γελάει ο Ποσειδώνας

*‘Poseidon Laughs’, Illustration by Angela Zafiris*

The Greek God Poseidon is on of the twelve gods of Olympus in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the King/God of the sea, earthquakes, storms and horses.

While earthquakes and storms may be no laughing matter for us mortals, for a god like Poseidon they sure are!

The gods are crazy!

Ο Έλληνας Θεός Ποσειδώνας είναι ένας από τους δώδεκα θεούς του Ολύμπου στην αρχαία ελληνική θρησκεία και μυθολογία. Είναι ο Βασιλιάς/Θεός της θάλασσας, των σεισμών, των καταιγίδων και των αλόγων.

Ενώ οι σεισμοί και οι καταιγίδες μπορεί να είναι αστεία για εμάς τους θνητούς, για έναν θεό σαν τον Ποσειδώνα σίγουρα είναι!

Οι θεοί είναι τρελοί!