The Secret History

Upon my first read of The Secret History by Donna Tartt, I found myself suspended alongside the cast of characters in their frenzy to cover up a murder, plan another one, and retain their status as classics students at a prestigious college in Vermont. This story is an exploration of how far one sinister night in the woods can escalate. This painting is my attempt to capture the bitter New England landscapes, drunken ignorance of youth, and violent bursts of action that make up The Secret History through watercolor, graphite powder, and collage.

To capture the essence of this book, I chose to combine a selection of scenes together in one painting. The layout of images is an ode to my love of graphic novels and sequential illustration, and alludes to the way I “see” written stories play out behind my eyes as I read them. Left to right, the images depict the following:

Henry Winter.
Bunny at the bottom of the ravine.
Camilla during the bacchanal, becoming a deer.
Young alcoholics spilling red wine.
Text from the book collaged with sketches: sculpture, laurel, Camilla.
The silence after the fall.