This piece was created for a grid project in school, during a time when I was deeply fascinated by hallucinogenics, specifically how they differ from other psychedelics in the worlds they open up inside the mind. I had already known the mythology surrounding LSD, especially the story of “Bicycle Day,” so Albert Hofmann naturally found his way into the composition as a nod to the origins of modern hallucinogenic culture. Around that same time, I had become captivated by the surreal work of Canadian artist Stephen Gibb. While I didn’t attempt to replicate his style, his influence shaped my approach: half of the grid dissolves into a playful, cartoonish surrealism, while the other half reveals a woman rendered entirely in grey. Her eyes roll back as if she is peering inward, slipping into a psychological landscape that only she can see. The contrast between the two sides; the coloured, animated chaos and the muted grayscale figure which became symbolic. The vibrant squares represent the heightened, fantastical “life” that hallucinogenics can offer someone who feels emotionally dulled or disconnected. Meanwhile, the woman in grey embodies the inner world before that shift: quiet, numb, suspended in shades of monotony. Together, the two halves show both the escape and the awakening that these substances can create. It is a portrait of inner contrast between colour and emptiness, perception and imagination, the world we see and the one we enter when the mind is finally pushed open.