the challenger

 “I Am Strong Enough To Let You In” is my representation of the Enneagram Eight. Eights are very assertive, so I knew that I needed to do my absolute best to capture their essence without making the message too aggressive and stereotypical while also making it bold and relatable for the Eight. I knew from the start two things for certain: I wanted to use only black, white, and red (because those colors scream bold and assertive, and the red represents the intense passion that Eights possess) and that I had to have a woodblock print element (because the act of carving and cutting and the rigidity of it felt right for the Eight). I had these ideas, but I did not have an attainable way of bringing them all together for a while. I sat with the ideas and waited, but what would I print? How could I tie all the colors that I wanted to use together? One day, I woke up and looked at my nightstand, and it all came to me.

Occasionally when I want to journal but don’t have the words to write, I will get an old book, rip out the pages, black out the words that I don’t want, and keep the words that I do to show what I want to say. I saw one of these blacked-out pages on my nightstand, and I realized that this form of collage was a great way to display Eight’s desire for control by regulating what words are said and what is shut out, and aggression by physically ripping out chunks of pages from a book. I knew I also needed to address the Eight’s desperate need for vulnerability, despite their reluctance for it, by showing words and phrases that represent this conflicting desire.

As soon as I decided to use this medium for the background of my piece, I immediately got to work ripping, cutting, tearing, blocking out, and searching for words and phrases that represented the Eights. Some of my favorites that represent the more negative tendencies include, “bossy, but she means well”, “would you like to change your mind? No”, and “I’m not interested in your opinion, only the explanation you promised me.” My favorites that represent the positive characteristics are, “supremely confident”, “he felt a powerful need to protect”, and “here was a woman who knew her own mind and didn’t let others do her thinking.” Another personal favorite is “She had a temper to match the fiery color of her hair”. This one is specifically for one of my friends who identifies as an Eight and has red hair.

Once I had finally made all of these blacked-out pages and layered them on the panel, I decided to use leftover lines from the pages to visually interrupt the flow in true Eight fashion. I used seven long lines and nine short lines to represent the Enneagram Eight’s wings but to also speak to the Eight’s ability to stand up for themselves and to fight against injustice.

Now that I had a background that I was confident represented the Eight, it was time to decide how to add red and the print element. I decided to carve a mouth yelling for the print and to print it in red on the background I had created. This decision was to represent not only the Eight’s willingness to speak up for themselves or others but also to highlight the inner tension of wanting to trust others and be vulnerable. Past hurts or circumstances in their lives have made them unable to connect on this level with others despite their desperate need for it. This inner tension is frustrating for Eights and another reason why the mouth is yelling.

I felt the lyric from the Sleeping At Last song, “Eight”, “I am strong enough to let you in” represented my piece well because it is communicating to the Eights that they are strong, but to continue to be strong and heal old wounds, they have to allow others into their hurt. I want those who are not Eights to see this piece and understand that Eights may seem assertive, bold, and aggressive, but when you get closer you can see that they are not as abrasive as they may seem. I hope that Eights themselves can see that their vulnerability does not show weakness, but it shows strength.