Why The Spiral?

If you know me, you might assume that by naming my blog The Spiral that I’m referencing The Downward Spiral by my favourite band Nine Inch Nails. While the music of NIN has served as an inspiration as well as a soundtrack to the majority of my personal creative process, The Spiral is something else.

I needed a fair amount of encouragement from friends and family to start writing movie reviews “professionally”; similarly, it has taken a fair amount of encouragement and playful goading from friends to start my own blog. Once I decided to finally start a blog, I needed to figure out what it would be about.

The intent of this blog is to provide myself with a space where I can write about whatever I want, without being beholden to a 400-word limit (something I frequently exceed in my articles). Initially this blog was going to be something where I can write longer movie reviews. But there is much more I want to write about than just movies (don’t worry, I will still be writing about movies a lot). That being said, the primary theme of this blog is creativity.

This brings me to the spiral. The spiral is one of the oldest geometric shapes depicted by humans, with depictions dating back to the Neolithic period. Throughout history, the depiction of the spiral has meant different things to different cultures. Spirals can symbolize revelation, growth and evolution. They can also symbolize fertility, the womb and the universe. They can be spiritual symbols and even symbols of hypnosis and dizziness. Spirals can be found in the natural world and can be a symbol of the unrestrained power of nature.

Spirals are also something that have permeated my artwork for years. A very large portion of my entire portfolio of academic work involves spirals or spiral-like motifs. The spiral pops up in my doodles and my sketches and my prints (some of which you’ll see decorating this blog). I’m subconsciously fascinated by the spiral and its presence in my artwork has become inescapable. The spiral is my own personal symbol of creativity.

While I was trying to decide what I wanted this blog to be, I realized I wanted to talk about art and creativity and about movies, books, music and pop culture. I wanted a place to showcase my own artwork, photography and writing. All of these ideas were swirling around in my head, like a creative maelstrom.

Then it all clicked, and I have once again found myself at the centre of a spiral.