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Why do Fallen Angels Look More Alive?

Rafaela Castillo

Where does the boundary between reality and imagination lie? My name is Rafaela Castillo, and I am an international student from Lima, Peru. My practice revolves around questioning imagination and exploring how emotion influences how we see the world as individual human beings. The figurative-abstract is my language, and colour my voice, two elements I aim to take forward in my practice as I progress into BA Fine Art: painting at Camberwell.

Where does the boundary between reality and imagination lie? My name is Rafaela Castillo, and I a...

"The Nature of the Non-Existent" is a personal exploration of imaginary worlds created by human emotion. Through the opposing nature of a pure angel and a fallen one, both versions of the same being, I reflect on inner duality, desire and the burden of perfection. While the pure angel turns away as the embodiment of idealisation, the fallen angel radiates with colour and energy, pitying its counterpart. The wings unite the figures, the one thing that connects them, despite opposing paths. This painting captures the tension between perfection and liberation, and asks whether our most 'fallen' selves might be the most real.

Final work

Diptych of a pure and fallen angel in a space that does not exist.

Why do fallen angels look more alive?

'The Nature of the Non-Existent'

Oil paint and oil pastels on two canvases

2 (52 x 74 cm)

A3 painting of a compressed creature in a colourful environment

Cocoon

'The Nature of the Non-Existent'

Oil paint and oil pastels on canvas and folded canvas sheet

29.7 x 42 cm

Why do fallen angels look more alive?

Spanish:

"Por qué los ángeles caídos lucen más alegres?"

Y cuando miro atrás, me doy cuenta de la fortuna prometida que escogí. Dejé atrás una vida de cobardía y esclavitud, aunque visualmente hermosa, disfrazada de lo que es correcto, para tí, no mi corazón.

Decidí escoger la luz, no sabía en lo que me metía, inocente y delicado cuerpo bajo cegadura inducida por quienes no soy yo. Y ahora así me siento, bendecida por el tercero. Una vida asegurada de buenas miradas y elogios sin excusas, a costo de los míos.

Pureza y pecado toman forma original, en un espacio donde la realidad no vista toma vida. Caminos distintos, mas una sola alma, unidas por identidad.

Los ángeles caídos lucen más alegres, más vivos. Una realidad y un deseo imposible en forma de criatura divina que siente, pero nadie cree. Una situación nacida de emoción humana, ahora es revelada.

English translation:

"Why do fallen angels look more alive?"

And when I look back, I realise my choice of a fortunate promise. I left behind a life of slavery and cowardice, though visually beautiful, dressed up as what was right for you, not my heart.

I chose the light. I did not know what I was getting into, an innocent and delicate body under induced blindness, by those who are not me. And now I feel this way, blessed by the third. A life assured of pretty stares and unexcused compliments, paid by my own.

Purity and sin take on their original shape, in a space where unseen reality comes to life. Distinct paths though one soul, bound by identity.

Fallen angels look happier, livelier. One reality and one impossible desire take form of a holy creature that feels, but no one believes. A place, a scene born from human emotion, is revealed.

Research and process

  • image from the project
  • Oil pastel drawings

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Why do Fallen Angels Look More Alive?

"The Nature of the Non-Existent" is a personal exploration of imaginary worlds created by human emotion. Through the opposing nature of a pure angel and a fallen one, both versions of the same being, I reflect on inner duality, desire and the burden of perfection. While t...

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