IMELDA ALMQVIST ART: JOURNEYS TO OTHER WORLDS, INNER WORLDS AND AROUND THE WORLD IN PAINTINGS!
Random Universe, Odin, Ragnarok, The Dawn of the Gods, Norse Mythology, Mount Olympus, Greek Gods, Pantheon, Rainbow Serpent, Creator Being, Mother of All Being, Romulus & Remus, Odyssee, Kiviuk, Gilgamesh, Enkidu & Humbaba, Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, Sigurd & Fafnir, Trial By Ordeal, World Tree, World Flood, CG Jung, Archetypes, Collective Unconscious, Animus, Anima, Shadow, Divinity, Creation, Grandmother Goddess, Inanna & Unwelcome Guests
WORLD MYTHOLOGY
Alcheringa: THE DREAMTIME (SOLD)
(Waiting for the world to be born...)
All human societies acknowledge powers greater than themselves, such as light and dark, thunder and lightning, floods and drought and so forth. Then there are the plants and animals on which their survival depends. The notion of a random universe is terrifying! Investing powers witnessed in nature with spirits that have a (more or less!) human nature, allows people to make greater sense of life. Plying the spirits with prayer and offerings allows worshippers to feel a degree of control and protection. Myths about gods and goddesses help give shape to the powers that are seen to preserve or endanger humanity.
The many stories mythology offers recount the experiences and adventures of human or semi-divine heroes. These stories deal with the fundamental big themes that underlie our everyday existence. These legends, even those from cultures far away in time or distance capture our attention because they deal with the extremes of human terror and delight. Myths of totally different cultures deal with very similar themes: the power of love, envy, generation gaps and conflicts, the aggression and violence of men (particularly on the battlefield), the trickster, illness and injury, the mystery of death, the possibility of an after-life, betrayal and treachery. Myths about the wider world try to explain the mysteries surrounding the life cycle and fertility of human beings and animals, the relationship between human beings and the gods, the creation of the world and (last but not least!) the nature of the universe.
Many myths reveal an interwoven pattern of circumstances outside the control of both mortals and gods. In mythology fate and destiny are almost beyond manipulation. Attempts are made to thwart fate or delay it - but they never work. The Norse God Odin can do nothing about his own death at Ragnarok, the 'Dawn of the Gods' and end of the world.
RAGNAROK
(The 'Dawn of the Gods' in Norse mythology)
At Grammar School I studied Latin and Greek and the panoply of stories and myths that go with these subjects. Our culture is awash with references to Greek Philosophers, the Greek Gods on Mount Olympus, expressions in Latin, and so forth. Then I studied Fine Art and Art History in Amsterdam. Once again this turned out to be the 'Art History of the Western World'. A 'limited edition' Art History, you could say. Having thus been 'thoroughly educated and brainwashed' it was a revelation to discover there is much more out there: whole different cultures, mythologies, art forms. In recent years I have really enjoyed submerging myself in the Celtic World, Inuit Mythology, Pre-Columbian art, Aboriginal Australian Dreamtime stories (to name but a few!).
RAINBOW SERPENT
(This painting shows the Rainbow Serpent in the act of creating all living creatures. She is the most significant Creator Being in Australian Aboriginal thinking. She is the 'Mother of All Being')
It is a remarkable fact that all these mythologies have creation myths, heroes and themes that show great similarity to stories from different continents and eras.Many of these legends feature divine twins (maybe to offer an explanation for the existence of duality in our world? The human being needs to mediate between opposites).
ROMULUS AND REMUS
Romulus and Remus were the twin sons of the God Mars and a vestal virgin. They were abandoned and adopted by a woolf and eventually founded a city. They quarrelled and Remus was slain by Romulus. The city was called Rome after him.
The 'Odyssee' is the most famous example of a 'Hero Journey or Quest'. See 'Kiviuk' in the Inuit (Eskimo) series for a less wellknown variation on the same theme! Or think of Gilgamesh (see Apogrypha).
KIVIUK
(Legend cycle about an Inuit Hero Quest!)
In Northern Europe the Norse figure of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer is the best known example of a hero slaying a monster (or think of St George - Patron Saint of England - and the Dragon!) Even Gilgamesh slays a monster in the form of Humbaba (and that's where things start going wrong for him...).
SIGURD & FAFNIR
GILGAMESH & HUMBABA
There is the concept of a 'Trial by Ordeal'. In mythologies the world over there is a World Tree and a Flood. (Think of the biblical story of Noah's Arc! (Gilgamesh visits the hermit Utpanishtim who lives at the edge of the world and was the only survivor of the Great Flood. Again, see Apogrypha). At the end there is the 'War of the Gods', the 'End of the World'. Though very interestingly, every end is the beginning of a new world order. The Maya even had very complex calculations to try and work out when one world (or epoch) is due to end and another one about to start! These stories from all over the world are very cyclical and circular, much like a serpent biting its own tail.
NOAH'S ARC
The Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher Carl Gustav Jung gave names to these ancient themes. He came up with concepts still in everyday use in our culture: Archetypes, the Collective Unconscious. He even 'added' some characters: Anima and Animus (the projection onto the opposite sex of the individual's psychic energy or true self), the Self (as mediator between the conscious and unconscious worlds) and the Shadow (the negative side of the personality). Jung views life as a 'Hero's Journey with the support of his Anima and opposition of his Shadow'. The goal is self-realisation, or as he calls it individuation, a very 20th and 21st century preoccupation! (For a very different take on life see the Medieval Series!) Just think of the number of psychoanalysts, councillors and therapists out there!
SELF TALKING TO SELVES!
The concepts of Divinity and Creation are pervasive in the human psyche. Warrior gods and fertility goddesses (or earth mothers) are found all over the world. (Personally I love the concept of the Grandmother Goddess that the Maya worshipped!) Human beings crave identity. We want to know where we came from, who created us. We want stories with a beginning, a middle and an end. It is a striking fact that there were legends of dying gods long before Jesus died on the cross. All heroes of European mythology who derive powers from a connection with divinity suffer the joys and agonies of human existence. And we human 'non-heroes' find joy and meaning in the adventures of those heroes.
INANNA'S UHULLU TREE
Inanna was a Sumerian goddess. A woman planted a tree in her garden. Here a bird built a nest in its branches. Lilith made a house in its trunk. A serpent made a home in its roots. The unwelcome guest just won't leave and in the end Inanna's brother Gilgamesh comes to the rescue. He tears down the tree and makes it into a throne and bed for Inanna!
(Or to quote a Russian proverb: guests and fish stink after three days!)
Personally I love finding something like an obscure Sumerian myth (like the one about Inanna's Unwelcome Guests!) or a hilarious scribble in the margin of a medieval manuscript that makes me laugh aloud or raises an issue that is so contemporary that 'centuries drop away' and there is an instant connection with a writer long-dead or a culture long vanished.
Imelda Almqvist 2006
(Last Updated April 2009)
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