Majora’s Mask introduced a roster of characters stuck within a never-ending cycle of sorrow and despair. At the dawn of each rising day, each character, no matter how small, had a story to tell, a story to be saved. One such story began with a curse. Hidden by a mask, a young boy named Kafei, who once was a young man, wrestles with his new cursed body, keeping him away from his love. Kafei’s story is one of sorrow that brings tears to the eyes but also one of hope from the love within.
Brazilian artist Damy (also known as EarthyD) captures an emotional young Kafei beneath the Moon in their portrait piece aptly named “Kafei”. Their style combines the traditional medium of watercolors with digital scanning and touch ups. The watercolor creates unique textures and an element of imperfection that mirrors the raw emotions woven into each stroke of the piece. Though sorrow bleeds through the blue elements and into Kafei’s purple hair, a brighter color shines below, reminding us ever so subtly that there is still hope.
Kafei’s gaze looks away from us, matching the direction of his side profile. The Moon above matches this direction though its gaze is more foreboding. Even so, the Moon does not take centre stage nor is it all consuming as its presence is known to do. Kafei takes up the majority of the page space, leaving the Moon to be a small circle in the sky. Though the world is ending, the dawn of the final day coming closer and closer, Damy captures the individual emotion within Kafei, bringing our attention to this small moment and the story within.
The Moon, while small relative to Kafei, sheds a blue light over the top of the young man representing the impending doom consuming Kafei’s mind. Our eyes are not drawn to this light but rather one of an opposite nature. Glowing from Kafei’s pendant is a bright orange light. The light is bright enough to turn the skies pink and shift the colors of Kafei’s hair.
Using an orange color, the opposite of the blue above, alongside Kafei’s necklace emphasizes the hope within. Even without the knowledge of what that pendant represents, the color and the lightning is enough to tell us what it means. Furthermore, the positioning sheds light over Kafei’s heart. So, while the Moon and the curse may consume his mind, the love he holds inside himself is stronger and will live on.
Kafei’s story is one of sorrow, heartbreak but also hope and everlasting love. Damy’s portrait may seem like a simple portrait rendition of Kafei’s sorrow at first but in the strokes of paint is layers of meaning from the sorrow of a man cursed to be alone, to a glimmer of hope that reminds him and by proxy us that love endures. As long as love is in your heart, you will find strength to carry on.
