'Darkness, Pt. 1' Designs

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As you may or may not be aware, I've recently taken an interest in Jonestown, along with the Peoples Temple & Rev. Jim Jones in general, & I'm in the process of creating three tributes to the Jonestown massacre--one in the form of 11 poems (compiled into a book I've titled "Guyana's Lament"), one in the form of a musical composition (the Penderecki-inspired "Jonestown Requiem", which is more of a requiem / opera hybrid that's entirely in Latin), & one in the form of six paintings, four of which are part of a series. Said series is divided into two parts: "Darkness" & "Light". Now, basically, each of the paintings in the series focuses on the positive & negative aspects of Jim Jones & the Peoples Temple; you're looking at designs for the installment of "Darkness" that deals with the former.

Of course, this is not to be the final image; again, these are preliminary designs for the painting in question. I also intend to add more images of the 'evil' Jim Jones to the final picture, but these are the first four that I'm going to put in it.

If you haven't seen the photos or video clips that these drawings were based on, look up Jim Jones on Google Images or Youtube, & they should crop up in your search results. The reason I chose these four to be in the picture first is because they deeply affect me on an emotional level. Simply put, every time I look at the images or video clips in question, they absolutely chill me to the bone....Especially the first one--that never fails to give me the heebie-jeebies! And what, I think, makes those images all the more chilling is that, well, frankly, it's like looking into the face of a devil...who's really more of a woefully-lost soul in my eyes.

Now, I have to be frank with you--Jim Jones / Peoples Temple / the Jonestown massacre are often shrouded in a fog of mystery, myths, & misconceptions. Not many people know the truth about Jones, his followers, & their movement, & just as few people have researched extensively on them; however, there are exceptions to that rule, & I happen to be one of them. Throughout the past couple of years, my interest in Jim Jones / Peoples Temple / Jonestown has led me to watch numerous documentaries & docudramas (e.g., "Jonestown: The Life & Death Of Peoples Temple", "Guyana Tragedy: The Story Of Jim Jones", "Paradise Lost", etc.), read numerous books (e.g., "Raven", "Hearing The Voices Of Jonestown", "The Cult That Died", "Salvation & Suicide", etc.), & visit such websites as "Alternate Considerations Of Jonestown & The Peoples Temple", a.k.a. the site for the Jonestown Institute. All of this media has helped me to gain further information & insight about Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, & Jonestown--much more than I'd even thought possible!--& has gradually guided me in forming the conclusion that what ended up as an awful tragedy actually began with a very noble movement, led by a very noble man who had very noble intentions...but, unfortunately, Jim Jones fell prey to evil forces, & he & his followers ended up going down the road to perdition.

One cannot deny that Jim Jones is one of many men in history who have baffled us beyond belief, testing our view of peoplekind, the psyche, the soul, & the nature of living creatures. People are divided as to where his heart & spirit ultimately lay--& these differences of opinion are only intensified by the enigma that surrounds his character--but I am among the consensus that he is a modern-day Lucifer, a fallen angel who started out with great ambitions, goals, & intentions to help create a better society, a better world, & a better way of life for people of every color, age, gender, race, status, & creed...but, due to drug abuse & underlying psychological factors that (for the most part) completely escape my understanding, became twisted & warped into a creature of darkness--a man who lost sight of those wonderful goals he once had, & ended up taking the wrong path.

As a matter of fact, the Jim Jones half of my "Darkness / Light" series (as well as one of my other two paintings, "Duality") is meant to emphasize the good & bad sides of Jones' personality, & the different roles he adopted throughout the stages of his life--tender-hearted preacher, cold-hearted cult leader, loving father & friend, merciless tyrant, altruistic do-gooder, drug-addicted ne'er-do-well...And I certainly hope, by the time I finish my paintings, that I will be able to effectively convey that sense of duality to you & others (for these drawings, preliminary designs though they may be, don't seem to do that vision the justice it deserves!).