New World Isis24" x 36"
Mixed Media
on Canvas
2007
In Egyptian Mythology, Isis was supposed to marry the god Set, but instead wed his brother Osiris. In jealousy, Set killed Osiris and hid his body in the Nile. Isis recovered Osiris' corpse and prepared him properly for burial but at the funeral, Set stole the body, hacked it into pieces and scattered the pieces across the earth. Her devotion being so strong, Isis recovered the pieces of the body and reconstructed the fallen god Osiris.
In her grief, Isis transformed into a bird and circled in the air, crying out her sorrow and deep lament. The wind she made with her wings wafted over her husband and new life came into him and he was reborn.
To me, this story talks about the way we can become fragmented - our lives are cut up and compartmentalized- and we become role players, filling various parts but never feeling whole. We need to breathe. We need to allow our souls to return to our bodies, and -in prayer or meditation, or in simply being still and quiet- we can rejoin our fragmented selves and become entire once again.
4 comments:
Aaron... i love this piece, think it's my favorite of the show. recently facinated with ravens (for a multitude of reasons after being up north this past summer) i appreciate & love your blending of cultural myths and archetypes.
thank you!
Sometimes I take a talking fast. I stop talking for 2 days and enjoy my own silence and what ever silence I can around me. Its amazing how the other senses become heightened. Thanks for the reminder.
Whiskey friend
Thanks, Ang.
What were you doing up north?
I hear you, Whiskey friend.
(get it?)
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