Searching for the Missed Mystery of Life: Axis of Consciousness

Description

Searching for the Missed Mystery of Life: Axis of Consciousness is a pen-and-ink drawing that explores the invisible relationships connecting the human body, nature, consciousness, and the cosmos. Created in 2011, the work belongs to the artist’s long-term series Searching for the Missed Mystery of Life, in which symbolic imagery becomes a language for investigating existence beyond ordinary perception.

At the centre of the composition stands a solitary human figure whose body rises from an intricate network of roots embedded within the earth. Rather than functioning as anatomical structures, the roots represent memory, ancestry, ecological interdependence, and the unseen foundations that sustain life.

The figure’s head contains the ancient Yin–Yang symbol, suggesting the dynamic balance of complementary forces—light and darkness, movement and stillness, masculine and feminine, material and spiritual. Beneath it, the visible heart becomes the centre of human consciousness, linked directly to both the rooted earth below and the expansive universe above.

Emerging from the shoulders, a vast white bird stretches its wings across the composition. The bird may be understood as freedom, transcendence, inner awakening, or the human aspiration to move beyond physical limitation. It does not carry the figure away; rather, it grows from the figure itself, suggesting that transformation originates within.

Behind the bird, concentric circular forms surround a luminous celestial body, while countless stars fill the surrounding space. These cosmic structures establish a dialogue between the microcosm of the human body and the macrocosm of the universe, a recurring theme throughout the artist’s practice.

Executed entirely through repetitive hand-drawn lines, the drawing transforms mark-making into a contemplative process. The rhythmic accumulation of ink creates not only visual texture but also a sense of duration, patience, and meditation, reinforcing the work’s philosophical inquiry into existence, balance, and the interconnectedness of all living systems.

Artist: Abu Naser Robii

Year: 2011

Medium: Pen and Ink on Paper

Size: 16 × 19 inches (Framed)

Original Drawing