Obsession

• Sahera Syed Nadir , Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2019

Obsession in art
My pencil could not move, ideas were not coming, ever since the accident happened. I remember breaking through the window and flying into the air, the months in the hospital.

As I sat in the classroom, my mind was blank, finding everything hard, seeing everything black. My eyes were thirsty for seeing things again in colour. The entirety of my body required a cane to prop it up, I was done with everything, still, my heart ached to do art such as ceramic but my hands were not accepting it.

Mrs Kim, my art teacher believed I would go beyond any famous artist. However, I had failed her expectation. Mrs Kim didn’t give up on me instead she asked a friend of her who is a professional art braille reader, Mr Len would be the one to reignite the fire in my belly and bring me to understanding once again. To create a major art piece like no other.
In my first class with Mr Len, he dragged my inert hands and slide them across and around round 3D-printed object, it drew my attention and I began imaging a big round head, with contemplating eyes. It seem like a man’s feature. Then, learning to understand different colours I used an art product named Susie to test me differentiate between the smell of colour.
In my second lesson Susie and I practised the smell of different colours using the shades of blue first, I remember noting the sweet violet smell of light blue dancing over the harsh peroxide with of deep blue.
In my third lesson Susie decided to challenge me mixing shades of blue with shades of white confusing my senses yet leaving me craving for more.

By my tenth lesson Susie no longer dictated the choice of colours, I did. I would invent colour games seeing with combination I would come up with next.

The end of my 20th lesson marked the moment, I had finally exhausted all colour combination that could be made. This began my daily colour test to see how many of the 16,777,216 colour combination I could recall purely based on the smell of my superior olfactory senses.

Lesson 38, 100% Automatic memory, Susie
Lesson 155, inherently ability, Susie
Lesson 239, inherently ability Susie
Lesson 360, inherently ability Susie

Lesson……… a whole year past, when Mrs Kim is calling me by the office girl ,wanting to see my major work, as she comes over Susie and I are still immersed. Naming our 16,777,216 colour combinations. She demands my major artwork and Susie is all I have to show her.