Chess Metaphor

The idea for the chess pieces came from when I was thinking about showing the distinction between classes. I was thinking that each piece is in a hierarchy of importance and you are often more willing to sacrifice pieces of a lower importance than those which have a higher level of power. This metaphor kept developing and I realised that this is a metaphor which can work across a large number of themes...

• Division between classes, can be used to show status and position within society.
• Hierarchy and willingness to sacrifice people of lower importance.
• It represents a method - whether this cold be the plotting of a murder or the systematic thoughts behind the detective's way of solving it. 
• Someone doing something to protect another person.
• Opposites of black and white, something being out of place or not matching correctly (small clues which seem insignificant but make a big difference).
• Pretending to be someone you're not - false identity, disguise. 
• Playing with scale - this can show belittling, blackmail, pressure, guilt, reversal of power, etc. 
• There will be a winner and a loser.
• Its all a game.

I then added in other visual symbols from earlier in my visual journal. 

Locks

• Having the chess game going on within a keyhole to show that from the outside everything looks normal but as you take a closer look, all of these other things are occurring. 
• Alternatively, the chess pieces could have keyholes on them to suggest that everyone is hiding something - secrecy, mystery, everyone has something they don't want to share.

String

• This was from the unravelling idea but I thought it could also show the opposite which would be tangles and complexity. 
• Showing pieces tied to one another could suggest blackmail as someone is not free to do or say what they want. 
• It could show how people are dragged into a situation. 
• It could show a general tangle and confusion by having all these connections all over the place which, from a  distance looks really difficult to make sense of. 

I am really starting to like this idea and I have been getting good feedback about it from my peers at home and in the studio. I am going to keep playing with it and try and use this metaphor to visually represent the themes of Christie's work. I think I am heading in the right direction with this because it is not specifically about one book which a lot of my previous work has been. I think I can still take key words and symbols from the individual stories I have read but maybe use these in a more subtle way and not make them the focus of the pieces. 

I am going to limit myself to just working with this metaphor for a few days to see whether giving myself some restrictions will make me think more creatively. 

(False identity, disguise, being sceptical about people's motives and who they actually are).