Libby Newel was a talented art student at the University of Sydney. After one of her artworks, a study of the realist painter Gustav Courbet, was purchased by a professor of art history at the University, Dean Cottington, she was commissioned to do another study, this time on the surrealist painter Edvard Munch. Cottington provided her with a large, square canvas to paint the piece on, and she began the process of completing the work in mid-February, 2014 . 

 

Libby gathered a number of Munch's artworks to serve as inspiration for the commission, however, after a number of unsuccessful attempts to replicate Munch's style, Libby conducted research into his personal life in an effort to gain some context to his work. She discovered that Munch suffered from a number of mental illnesses and disorders, effectively rendering him insane. Of particular note to her were his hallucinations, which he credited as the inspiration of his highly-regarded work, The Scream. 

 

By the time of her death, Libby had tried sleep and sensory deprivation techniques to induce hallucinations, but found that these approaches had little effect on her perception of reality. In an attempt to enter an altered state of mind, She contacted Jo "Diablo" Weese, a synthetic marijuana dealer who undertook the same course as her at University. Diablo sold her some of his newest creation, Zohai RX II, which he guaranteed her would induce the hallucinations she was seeking. She picked up the edible drugs, in the form of chocolate bars, on the 7th of March. That afternoon, she flipped the weeklong hour glass she received as a Christmas present from her friend, Daniel O'Reilly, in 2013 and began dedicated work towards completing the commission.

 

After her initial trial of the drug allowed Libby to see trees transforming into animals while on a bush-walk, she began to paint under it's influence, making significant progress during the time she was hallucinating. In the week before the commission was due, she began to increase her dosage, aiming to complete more and more of the piece each night. As the weather grew worse and the grains of sand in the hourglass continued to fall, Libby's work became more tortured and harrowing as Zohai began to have an effect on her perception of reality. On the night of the 15th, the day before the commission was due, she doubled her dosage, aiming to enter an extended period of psychosis to finish the piece. Unfortunately, she did not plan for the severity of the high and suffered a mental break at the moment the last grain of sand fell into the lower chamber of her hourglass. 

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During the period of psychosis, she perceived that Cottington was trying to come into her bedroom and steal the canvas, killing her in the process. She defaced and slashed her almost completed artwork in what she thought was an act of self-defence. After  receiving a message from God, likely influenced by the lightning storm that was occurring outside, she carved elaborate patterns and words into her skin with a painting knife, aiming to capture her life and history in her final, poignant artwork, the canvas of which was her own body. She passed away that night from blood loss due to her self-inflicted wounds.

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Her body was discovered later on the evening of the 15th after her friend Daniel O'Reilly called the police when he was unable to gain access to her apartment. Police found her lying in front of the slashed canvas, which had been completely defaced with splashes of paint before it was destroyed. The hourglass was found smashed against a wall and the sand it once contained was scattered across her apartment.

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The New South Wales Police conducted a criminal investigation into Libby Newel's Death, interviewing O'Reilly and one of the apartment building's security guards, Carlos Rodriguez. Diablo Weese was acquitted of murder but charged with possession and distribution of an illegal substance and, having been charged with a $20,000 fine, was sentenced to 15 years in gaol.

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The Hourglass

In "The Death of Libby Newel", the hourglass, and the sand within it, is representative of Libby's mind and her sanity. As Libby's mind becomes damaged by Zohai, the sand in the hourglass flows from the top chamber (representing her sanity) to the bottom chamber (representing her insanity). The fall of the final grain of sand in the hourglass is synchronous with her mental break, which is closely followed by her smashing the hourglass and scattering its contents. This is symbolic of how her mind is fractured and her consciousness scattered by the drug.

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The Square

In "The Death of Libby Newel", the square canvas is representative of Libby's brain. Before she starts the project, the canvas is perfectly white and unblemished, which reflects her undamaged mind. Throughout the process of completing the commission Libby adds paint to the canvas, ruining its unblemished surface. This reflects how she administers Zohai to herself and in turn, damages her brain.

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The Lightning Bolt

In "The Death of Libby Newel" lightning strikes at key points throughout the story to emphasise the damaging effect of Zohai on Libby's brain. This was inspired by the way Shakespeare used weather to portray and emphasise themes in his plays.