Shikha Summaylun

This is a piece that I created of Mount Everest, one of the world’s seven summits. The happenings on Mount Everest have been some of humanity’s deepest mysteries of the past century. At over 29,000 feet, Everest, referred to by Tibetans as “Holy Mother,” plays a significant spiritual role in their lives.

The landscape depicts a number of interesting concepts that I was thinking about when I created it. To ascend any mountain is very difficult and requires a number of traits, including skill, stamina, perseverance to keep pushing and some luck. I decided to show both the moon and the sun to convey the idea that climbers have to dedicate both day and night to achieving their goal.

Not many people can ascend Everest. Many people might dream about it, but only a few will actually endure the sacrifices needed to actually try to ascend. This includes the months or years of training and then travelling to Nepal and committing to the many months necessary to try to ascend. Some climbers will make it very far, but have to turn back because of poor weather.

I chose to light the sky blue for the dreamers and red for those who are bold enough to take big risks. I also used a Dragon to convey the idea of the "life or death" risk that climbers take, especially trying to pass Khumbu Ice Fall, which is one of the first main challenges of trying to summit.

At the center of the painting, I placed a temple because for both the Nepalese and many of the climbers, ascending this great mountain is a spiritual experience. I placed prayer flags near the temple, as these are put here by sherpas to bring climbers great luck. Lastly, I wrote the title of the painting in Sanskrit, which loosely translated, means Great Peak.

Interestingly, after painting this landscape, I showed it to my grandfather, who is able to read Sanskrit, and he was able to easily read the title and predict what the painting was going to be about.

Size: 48x28