Sylphbranching
Venus-Ouroboros Labyrinth
Watercolor and Pen, 2007. The medieval-style labyrinth takes the shape of the Vesica Pisces, formed by the intersection of two circles, like a Venn Diagram. The symbol once stood for the goddess Venus and female genitalia; then in Christian times, Jesus came to be depicted inside that shape, representing him in Mary's womb and the union of heaven and earth. Pythagoreans applied their sacred ideas of mathematics to the image and came up with the Greek letters to represent fish, ichthys, or pisces, and today the symbol is mass produced for car bumpers. The serpents are meant to recall other myths as well, used around the world to represent the cosmic infinity of Uroboros, the serpent that eats its tail, as well as the dark side of Christianity, the serpent in the Garden of Eden. In its totality, this labyrinth is an image of the duality and union between old religions and current beliefs, of both the terrors and ecstasies of the human experience and the gateway between spirituality and carnality, which are all inextricably entwined.
Venus-Ouroboros Labyrinth
Watercolor and Pen, 2007. The medieval-style labyrinth takes the shape of the Vesica Pisces, formed by the intersection of two circles, like a Venn Diagram. The symbol once stood for the goddess Venus and female genitalia; then in Christian times, Jesus came to be depicted inside that shape, representing him in Mary's womb and the union of heaven and earth. Pythagoreans applied their sacred ideas of mathematics to the image and came up with the Greek letters to represent fish, ichthys, or pisces, and today the symbol is mass produced for car bumpers. The serpents are meant to recall other myths as well, used around the world to represent the cosmic infinity of Uroboros, the serpent that eats its tail, as well as the dark side of Christianity, the serpent in the Garden of Eden. In its totality, this labyrinth is an image of the duality and union between old religions and current beliefs, of both the terrors and ecstasies of the human experience and the gateway between spirituality and carnality, which are all inextricably entwined.