I died in 2006 when I was stabbed in the back with a butterfly knife puncturing my left lung and filling it with blood making it difficult to breathe. I was on my way home that night and I was mugged by 3 guys, I fought them and got stabbed.

I managed to struggle home but barely made it, I was able to alert my father and uncle and told them what had happened, my dad readied his van and my uncle held me and got me inside the vehicle about to leave, but unbeknownst to the two, I already died.

I experienced going to a place where we will all go when we die, I saw heaven. It was a sea of stars which when my essence floated closer to it, revealed that every shining light in that cluster of billions, were all souls, and these collections of souls was indeed God.

I saw my relatives, both living and deceased, people in my life, and classmates at the time, people I have known all my life, there were too many to recognize and count. But the brightest ones were the closest to me, which were my immediate family and closest friends.

Although they couldn’t hear me speak, I apologized to them for being who I was to them back then, a disobedient son, a lousy brother, and a bad friend. I then thought of all the art and comics that I've created would go unfinished, and thought that my best friend should continue them.

But I then realized that no one else could continue my unfinished artworks and tell my stories but myself alone. So I decided to go back to the land of the living saying goodbye to our real home, to that warm and loving entity. It felt like I was gone for hours or even days when I came back to my body, but in truth, it was merely seconds, milliseconds even. I was still in the vehicle where I was held by my uncle and my dad's car hasn't even moved yet.

I was able to survive the ordeal in the end and got back to full health within a week and I still remember my near-death experience and my vow to finish and make more art since I was given a chance to come back.

A near-death experience (or NDE) is not as uncommon as one would think. A lot of people have died and come back to life, sometimes even days after they were pronounced dead. And my experience was just one of them. I and other people who have gone through an NDE all describe a darkness after death, thinking of meeting God in our final moments, and then we see a tunnel, and then at the end of it, a bright light, then a sea of stars, a glimpse of The Almighty. God’s true form.

God speaks to you there telepathically. In other people's cases, they were told that they have to go back and finish their mission on earth, and when they decline, they experience not death, but being born again into an infant - a reset of one's life.

Going through the cycle of reincarnation, the pain of life on their backs, and the burden of their unfinished mission, they set foot again on their new life. While others are given a second chance to complete their mission, some are already welcome to stay in heaven but are given a choice to do more if they decide to come back. And that was the case with what happened to me. I chose to come back, not only to share what I witnessed but also to create more and more artworks with the gifts that God has given me.

I promised to make more art in my second life so that I can show the beauty of God through my works. And doing so, I might be able to inspire others to awaken their sleeping gifts, their “latent talent” and also for them to find their purpose and be able to fulfill their life’s destiny. So that when their time comes to meet our creator, they can join Him, willingly and without regret, breaking the cycle of life and death, joining the infinite who have passed their mission. To be one with the universe, to ultimately be with God.

I want all of us to find out what our mission is in this life and fulfill it, no matter how hard or struggling we are at first. I see myself as an artist who lost his way before, only to realize when we do not use our gifts for good, that is when we go astray, become sad, and depressed. When we use our talents, and our many gifts fully, we feel accomplished and are closer to God.

For me, it's being an artist who tells meaningful stories in my artworks. And ultimately, when we do so and we are ready, we will leave our crimson flesh, and remember the truth; We Are All Stars, Dwelling in a Body.

This show is a culmination of artworks I did in the span of 17 years after that incident.

-Marius Black 2023

"𝐀 𝐆𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲"
video art installation Marius Black 2023
edited & music by Joemarie Lachica

𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐃𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 • 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝐄𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 runs from 𝘼𝙪𝙜𝙪𝙨𝙩 12 to 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 1, 2023 @ Space Encounters Gallery • 7th 𝙁loor 𝙋𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖 𝘽𝙡𝙙𝙜. 𝙍𝙐𝘽𝙔 𝙍𝙙., 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙜 🖼