MIRRA KAN | ARTIST

HARADRIM | CHILDREN OF HURIN | ORIENTAL & FANTASY ARTS | -> #artmirka http://artmirka.com | NO AI arts

[silmarillionwritersguild]

One of the effects of Tolkien's broad-reaching world-building is that the people on the margins of the map (and the texts) invite fanworks creators to tell their stories. In this month's Tolkien Fanartics article, our art editor Anérea had the opportunity to chat with Mirra Kan, whose work embodies the concept of moving characters and peoples from the margins of Tolkien's works to center them in her own.

Self-taught and a self-described orientalist, Mirra Kan focuses on the peoples of Middle-earth who live in the south and east. She seeks to show these characters—who are often depicted simply as enemies in the text—as real people from complex cultures. Among the Southrons were "heroes fighting and dying for the sake of a better future for their children," Mirra reminds us, and her art represents their cultures and tells their stories.

You can read Anérea's interview with Mirra Kan here.

[anerea-lantiria]

[lucifers-cuvette]

Boosting this for @anerea-lantiria's excellent stewardship of the artist interviews on the SWG and for @mirra-kan's wonderful artwork.

[mirra-kan]

SWG interview: In case you want to know a bit more about me 🥰🙌

Thank you, @anerea-lantiria — I’m so glad I received this opportunity to talk to you and tell a bit more about my art! That’s a real pleasure and honor 🙏🥹❤️ …and also the most thoughtful interview I’ve ever done 👍

[dagordagorath]

Wow, congrats @mirra-kan! This was an awesome interview and well-deserved. I'm glad we got a chance to get a glimpse into your thought process behind your beautiful artworks. 🖤

[mirra-kan]

Aww, thank you so much! I'm sorry I couldn't get back to you earlier - was absent from the web due to some personal issues. You're so kind and I'm such a lucky person to be a part of such a welcoming and supportive community! 🙏😊❤

[mirra-kan]

Peoples of Middle Earth: character concept sketch Khand / Near Harad borderlands (?)

[catchymemes]

[nodensart]

Dark maiar

🥀 Ixalië, maiar of Mandos. The faithful child, surrendered to the Melkor's darkness. I love the originals and OCs from this fandom!

Commission for @eunoiaastralwings

[starrose17]

No one reblogs on tumblr anymore.

No one leaves comments on Ao3 anymore.

Seriously people the lack of fandom interaction these days makes me genuinely depressed, it never used to be like this, makes me wonder what's the point of coming online to do anything anymore.

Reblog a post so other people can see it.

Leave a comment so the author doesn't feel like giving up.

Fandom cannot live on Likes or Kudos alone.

[ftl-faster-than-life]

You don’t have to interact with every piece of fanwork that you come across, but you do have to interact with fanwork. That’s how it works. Fanwork is not ‘free dlc’ for your favorite media, and it isn’t meant to be passively consumed. Art is communication and fandom is a conversation. Join in! Join in!

[somnambulic-thing]

It wasn't so long ago that I saw enthusiastic readers organize writing fests, or art prompt events and make extensive rec lists of fics, or resources or meta posts, actively shaping the environment of their fandom. Readers who found an active place in a community and got so much satisfaction from that.

Now the main load falls to those who are creators. Make the thing, promote the thing, get it out to people, then read the stuff of your friends, look around for more and find new artists and writers while working on your next wip, have an offline life and feel bad about not being able to keep up with the series of your friends because, damn, you know they have been kinda down about feeling irrelevant and ignored.

Fandom as a concept and form of community holds so many possibilities and chances because it's full of people creating for creations sake, out of love for something and not for cold profits.

Do you actually understand how special that is?

Creating in a community like that doesn't have to come in the form of fics or art but can also be the creation of events and fandom structures, of inspiration and motivation and... everything you fucking want.

[aidaronan]

I want to add because this isn't an element that I ever see on these posts: you may have to train/retrain your brain to enjoy and value these types of interactions, and it might feel a little bit like work to do so. Our brains are becoming so trained on quick hits and content that 'expires.' We're also increasingly on an internet that elevates just flat out being mean, which makes interacting scary even though fandom spaces (while not without drama) are generally inviting, esp for those surface level interactions like comments/reblogs. Commenting and interacting with things is supposed to be fun and joyful and community-building, but it might not FEEL like it at first if you aren't used to it or have gotten out of the habit. It might feel tiring or even a little scary. All that to say, you might have to make it a point to comment more and to build those muscles and prove to your brain that it's actually not so bad and is, in fact, kinda nice. You might have to build up to it. "I'll comment on 1/10 fics I read, even if it's just 10 whole characters of a comment." And then you can up the number of comments and experiment with the types of commenting you like to do, until it feels more normal and natural. Until you know you are the type to yell incoherently or the type to comment a string of emoji or the type to leave whole analysis essays using floaty review box. (Maybe you're all depending on the day.) There will still be times you don't feel like it and that's okay. There's times I don't feel like it and I'm an author. There isn't a quota or a requirement. Just joy to be spread and to be had.

[mirra-kan]

People of Harad - their stories and struggles - Blue Wizards - the fact that the Kings of Harad did homage and their sons were given as hostages in the court of the King of Gondor... all these stories captured my mind ever since I read Silmarillion and other writings by Professor Tolkien!

So grateful to people, who organize such events to draw the attention to this region! Haradrim Prince for @tolkienofcolourweek that's run by @brighter-arda

You can find my art on DeviantArt, IG and VK by #artmirka hashtag <3

[lucifers-legions]

Another GLORIOUS piece of art!

I don't know how you do it, but you always make the expressions of your Haradrim characters so alluring. There is a story in the furrow of their brow and the lines of their face and a suppressed anger in their eyes--whether anger at the people of Numenor/Gondor or at their own countrymen for their choices in allegiance.

This will actually be a topic that comes up in my fic during the early days of the Harad-Gondor diplomatic relations in the Fourth Age. "Will you demand our sons as hostages as your ancestors once did?" "That you and your family are here in my country, as my guests and under my protection, should be more than enough to convince you that my intentions are not so self-serving."

Aaaaaanyway, love this piece! Looking forward to seeing more of it!

[mirra-kan]

Knowing that there are people, who think deeper into their stories fills my heart with sincere joy! And Hope 🙏😭

And yeah, I often try to make subtle expressions talk instead of “blatant gestures”. What can make me happier than the one, who actually reads it, thank you so much!

If I may add to your hc (which I looooveee!), I suppose after successfully fighting the Dark Lord and all that Blue Wizards’ storyline, Harad and Khand wouldn’t be that easy to “subordinate”. I mean, they had their own war going on for centuries, so…

Talking about Sauron’s alliance… not that easy to guess but it seems way fairer to let Faithful Kingdoms/tribes to make decisions about their fate. Aragorn travelled those lands and should know more than others and whom he can make alliances with. Would love to see your perspective on this ❤️

[parsabad]

Borujerdiha House/ Kashan/ Iran

Photography: Abbas halvachi

[amtrax]

the creators struggle of "yes I absolutely made this for myself and I should absolutely appreciate that I made this thing that turned out amazing and be proud of it on that merit alone" vs "man it'd be cool if everyone liked this thing I made as much as I do"

[humbleschilder]

Raw concept of Beleg Cuthalion. Quick sketch done with pencil on paper. Beleg is one of my favorite characters in Silmarillion.

[mirra-kan]

Maedhros & Maglor “The Burden” diptych gift card

I find the fact that I could finally print it the right way during M&M week rather symbolic 😉

[fluentisonus]

the thing that gets me about the whole denethor situation is that it's full of the exact sort of complex difficult & tragic character work and relationships that people on this site claim to love. the shrewd & weary leader. the falling city. the long & difficult stand on the front lines against the enemy. the loyalty. the relationships strained and battered by the circumstances. the almost religious imagery. the full on traditional tragedy of the ending. if people didn't have brain fungus they'd eat this stuff up

[thelien-art]

The Blue Wizards

Only two came forward; Curumo and Alatar... and Alatar took Pallando as a friend

J.R.R Tolkien

Alatar really is the embodiment of that one friend who thinks going on a field trip in the middle of nowhere where you have never been before is a good idea.

It will be fun he said.

Alatar: Such fun we´re having!!

Pallando: Hmm...

Alatar: No?

[mirra-kan]

Love this concept! My favourite beast hunters 🔹

Orome taught them well 🔺

[mirra-kan]

«A king is he that can hold his own

or else his title is vain» - Maedhros, Silmarillion.

I know it's Maedhros and Maglor week on Tumblr @maedhrosmaglorweek but I don't have anything new to post. What I do have is this Maedhros I never posted as an image before. And I thought it's the best time to post it. The Burden: Maedhros and Maglor diptych link

[annabthesolitarywriter]

I love Maedhros so much 😍

@mirra-kan

[mirra-kan]

Absolutely understandable! He totally deserves all the love and admiration @annab99awritersdream

[mirra-kan]

«For nothing is evil in the beginning…»

Some fast sketching for the sake of capturing the image of something I can't give a clear definition of. Yet.

Can you?

Music: ICHI Abracadabra

[tanoraqui]

the Kinslaying at Alqualondë is sooo interesting because it is both the Noldor's original sin (everything before that was just family drama and/or dramatic, if binding, rhetoric) and the LEAST of their great crimes. Eonwë literally does not name it when saying why the House of Fëanor has lost their right to the Silmarils; he highlights the other two Kinslayings - "and most of all because of their slaying of Dior and their assault upon the Havens" - but not Alqualondë. It is a BLATANTLY obvious parallel to Morgoth coming in the Darkness, killing Finwë and stealing the Silmarils, for "these [ships] are to us as are the gems of the Noldor; the work of our hearts, whose like we shall not make again." The Noldor did NOT plan to start killing: "[Fëanor] went to the Haven of the Swans and began to man the ships that were anchored there and to take them away by force. But the Teleri withstood him, and cast many of the Noldor into the sea. Then swords were drawn, and a bitter fight was fought upon the ships..." [emphasis mine] It's not clear who made the first killing blow, but actual weapons were clearly drawn only AFTER the Teleri proved themselves willing and able to fight. Did Fëanor mean to simply intimidate them into giving him the ships? Did he think Olwë only refused because he was cowed by the Valar, and would surely give aid with a nod and a wink if he had an excuse? Every single one of these people had grown up in blessed peace, except those who had Journeyed, who still (so far as we know) had no experience of battle. The only person other than Fëanor named as playing a key part in the whole mess is Fingon, "rush[ing] in before they knew rightly the cause of the quarrel", portrayed in all the rest of the text as the closest the Silmarillion gets to an archetypal hero. It was the greatest loss of peace and collective innocence that Aman ever faced, and it was such a MESS.

[mirra-kan]

"...evil labours with vast power and perpetual success – in vain: preparing always only the soil for unexpected good to sprout in." - J.R.R. Tolkien, letters.

Tolkien OC Week Day 1: Khisar: Faithful Haradrim OC @tolkienocweek 

You can find my art via #artmirka #servia_art hashtags on any platform <3

[lucifers-legions]

Once again I'm finding another (probably) old piece of yours, and once again I'm in awe of it! The colors! The details on his clothing! The eagle! The look in his eyes! It's all amazing! 😍

[mirra-kan]

Haha, yeah, this one is so dear to me coz he was the very first embodiment of the rebellion and the whole Faithful Haradrim idea. I didn’t want to render him much coz he had to stay closer to the idea, than to the actual person. Hope it makes sense and I’m so glad you noticed it! ❤️

Not many were ready to accept such ideas as a part of Professor’s lore. Seems like it’s shifting a bit today. And I’m so happy I can add my pinch of art to it to support it visually 🙌

[aredhels]

At that time Aldarion first looked on Erendis with love; and he stood long in the stern looking back as the Palarran passed out to sea. It is said that he hastened his return, and was gone less time than he had designed; and coming back he brought gifts for the Queen and the ladies of her house, but the richest gift he brought for Erendis, and that was a diamond.