Evanescence Magazine

Evanescence

Magazine

Contents Fashion Illustration - Mending hearts and souls How to quickly sketch an idea for fashion

Tarot - Of Myths and Legends The mystical practice of tarot reading How the corporate culture wounds the creative mind Stories from the corporate gutter or How I got an opera segment dedicated to me

Sense

Sensibility

Fashion Illustration

Mending hearts and souls

How to quickly sketch an idea for fashion Step 1. Draw the croquis

Step 3. Fill in the base colours

Step 4. Add the details Step 2. Sketch out your design

The mystical practice of tarot reading

The mystical practice of tarot reading

When people think of tarot, the first though which comes to mind is of fraud and being told stories we all want to hear. But there’s more to tarot than meets the eye. It is a hollistic practice intended to allow readers to see what may happen in the foreseeable future. Even though it talks about possible futures without any solid background in science, it has to deal with manifesting ideas, energy projections, intent manifestations and more.

The practice of tarot reading was born in the 15th century, a time in which religion and spiritualism influenced greatly society. The Catholic Church’s inquisition led to the slaughtering of countless people, mostly women, who were accused of witchcraft. Due to its pervassive nature, tarot reading was often associated with witches, thus anyone who practiced it risked their lives.

At its core, tarot reading was meant to offer some sort of spiritual and emotional comfort for those who were unable to cope with loss or grief. However, the concept became a means to financial gain, as throughout history numerous so-called readers would offer their services and advice to vulnerable individuals seeking comfort.

During the modern age, tarot reading has become a more common practice, and is associated with the followers of Wiccan teachings, a pagan sub-religion promoting communion with nature and karmic fluxes within the universe. Due to its mystical nature and potential for creative outcome, tarot card design has made numerous artists create their own version of the 78 tarot cards, divided into two categories: Major Arcana and Minor Arcana.

When it comes to the structure of these decks, the Major Arcana represents a suit of 22 cards, while the Minor Arcana is comprised of the remaining 56 cards (these are organised in 4 major classes: Cups, Wands, Pentacles and Swords).

All tarot cards have key words and numerous meanings associated with them. It is to be noted that in tarot reading, there is no given malicious or benevolent card, as their position (upward or reversed) encompasses a different meaning. Moreover, the blend of randomised card selection during the reading further offers context to how one specific card is interpreted.

Due to its creative potential, the artist community, especially illustrators, painters and graphic artists have developed their own take on the tarot suit, following specific themes.

Below there is a selection of tarot card examples, from both Major and Minor Arcana from my personal collection. The first section is from the ‘Murder of Crows’ Tarot, by Lo Scarabeo and text written by Charles Harrington, ‘The Dark Wood’ Tarot, by Sasha Graham (writer) and Abigail Larson (visual artist), ‘The Hush Tarot’ by Jeremy Hush (writer and visual artist), ‘The Tarot of the Divine’ by Yoshi Yashitani (visual artist) and ‘The Wild Unknown’ Tarot by Kim Krans (visual artist and writer).

How the corporate culture wounds the creative mind

Modern society has become synonymous with consumerism, capitalism and corporate culture. Almost all large business follow a hierarchical structure in which the building blocks are treated like fodder. Irrespective of rank or significance of one’s role, to a corporation, you are nothing more than a number, a negligeable element within its workforce which can be easily replaced. Understandably, corporations are money-making machines and as any other business, it’s a numbers game. Paradoxically, the same industry seeks to hire highly enduring, talented and creative minds, capable of fulfilling a variety of tasks and roles. Yet how do these organisations manage creative thinking and what is their impact on the creative mind.

Before committing to becoming a fashion designer, I spent a good portion of my 20s working for several organisations, within the field of Customer Service. Needless to say, maintaining my creative spirit high and having a job which pays bills was and still is a complex task. Somehow, I managed to make it through this period and may say I find I have grown so much from this experience. But what I feel it took from me at times was the the ability to enjoy my work. There is something dehumanizing about fulfilling same repetitive task and it burninshes those creative synpases.

I also believe that thinking creatively with the purpose of finding a solution to a problem you may not be so committed to resolving affects the quality of your own work, as well as maintaining consistency levels. However, I ought to point out that the same mandatory nature of fulfilling such tasks also drives for ambition, cunning and determination. At times, I found myself relishing in extensive creative projects, where I would experiment and elevate my capacities. However, I do feel that corporate culture definitely hurts the creative mind.

In any other context, I would say it is a passive experience, but I am the bi-product of corporate environment. Only now, when I am making a shift in my creative journey I feel my untapped potential coming to its full realization. And probably for the first time in my life, I am no longer afraid of dwelling in the joys of making.

Stories from the corporate gutter or How I got an opera segment dedicated to me

I was working for one large American corporation and coincidentally, it was also my first job. I had been dealing with crazy customer demands, system errors, convoluted situations caused by improper handling of situations and all in all, messy situations. One may say working in contact centres and customer service is hell, but I may say it is one of the most rewarding experiencing I was able to get. Amongst its rapid-fire environment, pressuring circumstances, and abundance of tasks to fulfil, customer service offers at times incredible moments which you will cherish for the rest of your life.

I was a customer service representative for a good year and a half, and I had recently been promoted to handling escalations. As you can imagine, the daily dialogues were something around people being ‘inconvenienced’, angry, upset, dissatisfied and all that memorabilia. Long-term, life in contact centre makes it that your social life is reduced to your work colleagues and those 2-3 customers you always get to work with on a weekly basis. So that may or may not turn you sour. Add that to being tasked daily with handing odd or complex cases by your manager and you are in for a thunderstorm.

It was a rather dull and standard day at work (at this point, everything was like that), and my manager asked me to work on a case with a customer’s complaint. ‘See how you can cut down on whatever he wants’, would be the all-time favourite line of my manager. And thankfully, I was good with having dialogues with my customers. The guys I was to call was in the absolute right; from a poorly sold contract with incredible things promised as part of the deal, we can easily say he was scammed to get in a contract which would only cost him more than if he was to go to another carrier.

The phone conversation starts and takes about 10 minutes in which I get presented with the facts (which I was well aware of), along with the customer’s personal beliefs on the matter and how he feels the company needs to improve. In short, the classic ‘complain, feedback and fix my issue’ type of mentality. The peculiar thing about this one was the guy knew what he was talking about. It was as if he had worked in call centre all his life. Naturally, I felt for the guy and fell to help him as much as I could. Perhaps the reason he swayed me into helping him was he was a lawyer (and I think a good one). He was looking to get a hefty discount on his bill, for over $400, but I knew this was a no can do. I bought myself time until next day, even though I intended to get it done on the same day. Our conversation really paid off. As soon as we agreed for me to chase this up, I got to my manager and scraped off $200 off the customer’s bill.

Lo and behold, I called him back maybe an hour after I had had the exception awarded to let him know. The guy wasn’t happy he did not get what he was expecting, but this is where setting limits and correct expectations is so important. I advised him I won’t be able to promise anything and will work to find a middle-ground solution. So naturally, he felt more than happy to hear we were both meeting halfway. So, the guy did thank me for being committed to fixing his issue. After a blurb of a few minutes, during which I could not make head or tails of what he was trying to say, I woke up in the middle of the call with him singing a good 3-minute opera segment dedicated to me. And the guy was good. DAMN GOOD, I may say! The baritone quality of his voice, belting and vibrato techniques were on point. While he was singing, despite me understanding nothing, I was cackling and giggling on mute listening to it. I really felt appreciated and rewarded, and like my work made a difference.

So yes, if you have the chance, work in call centre. It will teach you a great deal about accountability, responsibility, it will also equip you with a variety of skills and make you more confident in your capabilities. And perhaps, you will get the opera singing guy to dedicate to you an opera segment.

As seen on ‘RU LIVING LIFE?’ blog