Ride The Snake, He's Old Collage

This is the first of three mixed-media collages I've created using The Doors seminal work, "The End" which has been used in several movies, the most notable being the iconoclastic "Apocalypse Now" which I believe typifies the concept of Thanatos. It also is an attempt to show once again what is happening to this planet. Quoting Wikipedia, Jim Morrison said, "Sometimes the pain is too much to examine, or even tolerate... That doesn't make it evil, though – or necessarily dangerous. But people fear death even more than pain. It's strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over." I spent some time searching for materials for this, using lichens, hornet's nest paper, dried grasses and maple leaves, dead wood and a snakeskin which had been shed to show the ancient snake. The raven feathers, metal leaf and crystals are symbols of pain, the trees symbolise breaking bones. I have framed this collage in a very old wooden window with its weathered original paintwork and I have deliberately left the original cracked glass intact to further portray age and ultimate destruction. I am prepared to replace the glass if necessary.