“Cell 4”
This is my piece titled “Cell 4” which was the second drawing made as part of my orginal horror collection during my senior years of high school from 2023 - 2024.
My aim going into this piece was to illustrate that extreme anger, if not tempered, will engulf your life.
The prison setting, the lighting from the barred window, and the figure’s solemn expression immediately set a tone of isolation and internal conflict. The presence of the demon, grinning maliciously, suggests that anger isn’t just a fleeting emotion but something insidious, lurking within and waiting for an opportunity to take over.
The fire from the match is both destruction and illumination. It can represent the moment of losing control—when anger ignites and dictates one’s actions—but it also highlights awareness. The fire exposes the demon, suggesting that acknowledging one’s rage can prevent it from fully consuming them. The contrast between the crying girl and the grinning demon further emphasizes the duality of human nature: the struggle between rationality and the temptation to give in to destructive emotions.
The telephone symbolises a call for help… a final tether to humanity before the demon fully takes over. Not only does it symbolise a broken connection, my aim was to actively place you as the viewer in the role of an inmate. The barrier created by the telephone reinforces the idea that rage-driven actions don’t just harm the person consumed by them but ripple outward, affecting those they care about. As the inmate, you can only listen—unable to reach through the glass, unable to undo the damage. This framing makes the girl’s expression even more haunting because she’s not just looking at the viewer; she’s looking at someone who has already succumbed to their worst impulses.
Overall, my aim was to make Cell 4 an immersive visual metaphor for the way anger can imprison someone, cutting them off from the people they love while allowing their worst impulses to thrive. It’s a cautionary tale told through hauntingly detailed realism.