Siddhartha Visual Essay Project
Where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going…
Setting the stage: Remember that Siddhartha begins life as we all do —in the light of our
parents: doing what they want us to, learning what they want us to, often be ing the persons
they want us to be. But then Siddhartha decides the Brahmin life isn’t for him; he understands
that his father’s life won’t light a path to his intended lif e-destination. Siddhartha, then,
undergoes the second natural life-progression: rebellion against the known. He then
progresses through a series of learning experiences that he hopes will guide him toward
enlightenment—some religious in nature, some secular in nature. Siddhartha, while living a life
of secular materialism, then realizes that he’s wasted his entire life and returns to his riverboat
friend to find enlightenment. And he does find it.
What I want you to do: I want you to compose a visual essay that exposes where you’ve been, where you are, and
where you’re going—more information on each of those later. When you create a visual essay, you tell your story
through pictures, drawings, artifacts, quotes from other people, or other mediums visual in nature. You’ll need at
least four (4) sheets of poster paper. Each sheet will be composed of a different topic—think of these as the
paragraphs of your “essay.” After you finished creating all of the sheets, complete (staple, in a way) your project by
punching five holes in each sheet, and connect each sheet in book-like fashion with ring clips beginning with the
title page and continuing with the following order:
Sheet One: Title Page
Sheet Two: “Where You’ve Been”
Sheet Three: “Where You Are”
Sheet Four: “Where You’re Going”
Sheet One: Include the title you’re giving this piece, your name, my name, the date, and the course number. Make
this title page your own; begin telling me about yourself from the very beginning.
Sheet Two: Go back to your early life. Who were you then? What were your interests? Are you an different
person today than you were when you were four? What were the important events in your life that lead you to
where you are today? Who were the influential people in your early life? Who helped shape you to become the
person you are now? There are many more questions for you to ask yourself, these are just a few.
Requirements for Sheet Two: Your goal in this sheet is to tell me who you were so that I can better understand who
you’ve become and the person you want to be.
1. You need at least 5 pictures of yourself in your early life
-Baby pictures, pictures with your parents, pictures of you playing sports, pictures of your early
accomplishments, pictures at your first piano recital, old birthday party pictures—these are just some of
the picture genres you might want to include.
2. You need at least 3 quotes
-Two quotes from Siddhartha; one quote from another source—whatever they are, they need to describe
you and your early life.
3. You need at least 3 artifacts:
-an early baby blanket, a birth certificate, your original drawings, a certificate of accomplishment—“AHonor Roll,” “Most Valuable Player,” “Spelling Bee Champion,” “Perfect Church Attendance,” etc.—you may
include pictures of items that are too large or heavy to put on the poster paper—a soccer ball, a trophy, etc.
4. Either as a picture, a quote, or an artifact, the most influential “teacher” from this part of your life must
appear. Note that this doesn’t have to be a school teacher; rather, you could include a parent, a friend, a
grandparent, a Sunday school teacher, a book that you read, an experience you had…
Sheet Three: Reflect on your life as it is now. How have you changed? What has caused you to grow up? What
accomplishments have you made that are significant or that you thought would be but discovered were not? How
do you define yourself now? What are some things that you consider make up your identity at this point in your
life?
Requirements for Sheet Three: Your goal in this sheet is to tell me who you are now.
1. You need at least 5 pictures of your Self today
-Portrait pictures juxtaposed with early pictures to show how you’ve grown, pictures of you playing sports
today juxtaposed with early pictures to show that you’re still doing some of the things you used to do,
cutouts from magazines to show your interpretation of style, culture, Soul, interests, energies, Spirit, etc.
2. You need at least 3 quotes
-Two quotes from Siddhartha; one quote from another source—whatever they are, they need to describe
you and your outlook on life as it is today.
3. You need at least 3 artifacts:
-Perhaps a certificate of Academic Excellence; perhaps an “All-Conference” certificate or certificate of
involvement in some sport; perhaps an essay you did particularly well on in school; wrapping paper from a
Christmas gift you were especially glad to receive; you may include blown up pictures of artifacts that you
are not able to attach to the poster paper. Remember that anthropologists consider almost anything to be
an artifact; you can include anything in this artifact section as long as it says something about you and your
current Self.
4. Either as a picture, a quote, or an artifact, the most influential “teacher” from your current life must be
included. Note that this doesn’t have to be a school teacher; rather, you could include a parent, a friend, a
grandparent, a Sunday school teacher, a book that you read, an experience you had…
Sheet Four: Reflect on where you want to be and who you want to be in the future. Is that aligned with who you
are now? What will you value, what will you do, what will your life look like? And most importantly, how will you
define happiness and fulfillment—as well as the steps necessary to get you there?
Requirements for Sheet Four: Your goal in this sheet is to tell me who you want to become and how you’re going to
become that person.
1. You need at least 5 pictures of the Self you want to become and the means you’re going to use to become
that person (these may be cutouts from magazines, printouts from the internet, regular pictures).
-Pictures of people you admire and might want to model your life after, pictures of professional people who
currently work in jobs you think you might to work in later on, pictures of the college campuses you might
want to attend, pictures of a car you want when you become an adult, pictures of a house you want… the
ideas here are limitless; provide me with pictures that describe the life you want when you’re grown, the
Self you want to be when you’re old…
2. You need at least 3 quotes
-Two quotes from Siddhartha; one quote from another source—whatever they are, they need to describe
the person, the Self you want to become.
3. You need at least 3 artifacts:
-Since you’ve not become this person yet, you’ll have to become creative and make these. Perhaps you
want to show your future high school or college diploma; maybe it’s a campaign sign that has you running
for state senate or even Congress; maybe it’s a movie ticket stub from a movie that you produced; maybe
it’s even an artifact that represents your Spiritual enlightenment like Siddhartha. This is your chance to
become extremely creative. Note, however, that these should reflect the person you want to become.
Please feel free to use me as a sounding board before you begin, while you’re working, and even after you think
you’re finished.
Make note of the rubric as you work so that you can be sure you’re earning the grade that you want to earn. You’ll
need to turn this rubric into me as your self-assessment when you turn the project in.
A note on citations: for any quotation or image you use from a source, please document such on a Works Cited
page that should be attached to your final project.
A note on captioning: considering this is a visual essay, very little writing is required of you outside of the three
quotations you will be providing me for each page. However, this project will be much more interesting for an
audience to view if they know what they are looking at. If you would like to caption your pictures or artifacts so I
know what I am looking at, please do so.
A *DIGITAL Visual Essay: if you would prefer to make your essay digital, I highly encourage you to do so. Using a
blog website such as Weebly or Wordpress could increase the creativity of your final project and such effort would
not go unnoticed. If you choose to work with this medium instead of poster paper, each “page” on this assignment
sheet could be a different page on your blog. I understand this would take more work—you’d have to scan in
pictures, pictures of your artifacts, etc.—and type in your quotations, but it would allow you to create something
streamlined in a medium you can change and share if you so desire. It would also eliminate the concern of needing
physical copies of personal photos made.