Image of the Week: The Beginning World
© D. Yael Bernhard
The Beginning World grew out of my early years of immersion in world mythology. An avid reader of Joseph Campbell, I drew upon creation stories for inspiration. I loved cave paintings, teepee paintings, rock paintings, and all manner of primitive and prehistoric art. These storytelling images use a vocabulary of stylized silhouettes to evoke their ancient narratives – tales of hunting and gathering, birth and death, celebrations and harvests, shamanic journeys and ancestral spirits. I loved all of it. From spearing fish to dancing around a fire, the activities of earth-centered societies began to populate my art.
My twenties were also characterized by reverence for the feminine and a quest for authenticity. I wanted to live in a world untainted by televisions and shopping malls, plastic furniture and fast food. My search for connection to pre-industrial societies led me to explore tribal cultures all over the world. The older, the better – and the more authentic, so I believed.
The Beginning World strives to bring these influences together in an all-encompassing image. The world itself is envisioned as a great birthing mother. I had dreamed of a powerful African woman wearing a cloak of many colors made from birds' feathers from all over the world. This great matriarch threw open her cloak to reveal a myriad of creatures crawling all over her body. Thus this image was born – minus the feathers, but with all the colors and creatures generated from within a vessel-like body.
The painting is 30"x22", done on heavyweight watercolor paper. The white lines are the bare paper showing through. I began by blocking out everything but those white lines in black acrylic, then painting on top of the black in solid colors. I used dark colors to evoke a cthonic feeling – that of a mysterious underworld. Figures dance and swim, crouch and leap; birds and fish, antelopes and snakes come alive in a geometric panoply of colors. Time vanishes as I work on paintings like this, for there's always more creatures, more movement, more life to pour into it. When the whole structure was energized with color and form, I was done.
The Beginning World gave birth to many more symbolic paintings, as this phase of my art lasted for over a decade – though the original sold almost immediately to renowned herbalist Susun Weed, along with another painting in this style. I have only 35mm slides of these older works, which I photographed myself. I'll try to find some more examples to share.
A good week to all!
D Yael Bernhard
http://dyaelbernhard.com
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