My visual thesis revolves around the minds of four contemporary serial killers. Our society has cut these men off and caused them to become outcasts because we do not understand how or what makes a person go down the path of murder. I wanted to create a visual journal and portraits that pinpointed very specific moments in their childhood, adolescence and adulthood that might have led to the path they chose to take. While it is very difficult for anyone, including doctors, psychologists and experts, to fully understand these men, I wanted to show their messed up lives in an elegant way that has not been done before. Much like wabi-sabi and the concept of intertwining beauty within imperfection, I wanted to take a topic that was disturbing and difficult and rework it into a piece of art.

The intention of the paper is to demonstrate the value of beauty in imperfection and the different approaches artists have taken in order to integrate imperfection into their art. Wabi-sabi, the Japanese aesthetic that teaches us to appreciate blemish, decay and imperfection is an important part of my personal work and the work of many other modern artists today. The relationship that imperfection plays in modern day art, whether it be purposeful or a mistake, is growing rapidly. By researching the background on wabi-sabi and different artists who embrace mistakes and blemishes in their work, I was able to begin to scratch the surface of how this concept is relevant within the art world.