Unravelling: A Journey Through Insanity explores mental health, masculinity, and a need for purpose in young people.
At its core, Unravelling has a young man mired in internal chaos, slashing and swinging his way through life to find external anchors to hold onto. Just as someone caught in a riptide struggles to stay afloat, Tys, our protagonist, struggles to stay tethered. Comparable to titles such as 'Buddha' by Osamu Tezuka, 'Round Trip' by Ann Jonas, and 'Persepolis' by Marjane Satrapi, the story includes formative incidents for Tys including local gangsters, historical events, hallucinations, and spiritual outbursts splashed across time.
Vaishnavi has a distinguishable single-line loopy art style which she uses to narrate Tys' story, touching upon themes like vulnerability and purpose for men in India in the 90s. The curves and loops are her mental representations of breaking out of being a square, in life and in her artwork.