UVA essay Anonymous

As I read The Odyssey one rainy summer night, the book became a prism that reflected a fantasy world free from the restrictions of reality and took me on a voyage of giants, monsters and gods. Its stories challenged me to embrace a viewpoint different from other children. When friends fought over a box of yogurt, I indulged myself in thought about its connection with the story of the golden apple.

It amuses me that things today relate to thousand-year-old stories. Through the lens of ancient wisdom, even the most commonplace intrigues me and updates my understanding. I cannot remember when I fell in love with folklore, but I can trace its influence in my art and the books I have read. It became part of me. Like the thread of Ariadne, they guide me through two different worlds –one abstract and the other reality –and connect and balance them, so that I can travel freely between them and view the world through a combined perspective.

The thread carries on a child’s sense of wonder and novelty, directs me when my creativity is dulled. It engages me in an everlasting voyage in search of artistic understanding and expression. As I grew up, I saw the idea represented in elaborated forms – the complexity of the Borges, the absurdity...