PHASE II

I'm sooo excited about this phase....I am taking a class on the history of Mesoamerican art and archeology right now. It is so inspiring to see what cultures were capable of so many centuries before our time. Olmec, Teotihuacan, and Maya art has been the focus thus far. One assigned text is a book called "Religions of Mesoamerica, Cosmovision and Ceremonial Centers" by David Carrasco. In it is this amazing image of "Lord Pacal" carved in limestone CE 684. The image is a narrative of Pacal's journey into the underworld as described in Maya religion. The intricacies of this carving blow my mind. It was discovered in a secret underground burial site inside the Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. This beautiful image was the lid of Lord Pacal's sarcophagus.
I am planning on taking this image and running with it. I want to consider my life in terms of "heaven, earth and the underworld" with personally significant symbols. What do I worship? How do I describe death and the passage to the next realm, if there is life after death. I'm not sure whether this will become a large sculpture encompassing my personal narrative, a few smaller sculptures depicting each stage, or perhaps taking a step away from sculpture entirely and moving into paintings. My next step is to write, draw, and continue to study the history of these cultures.

Questions:

1. Why do I care about this culture?
Throughout my education, I have been frustrated with the lack of emphasis on Latin American art and archeology. We constantly focus our studies on European art history as a basis for the structure of our techniques. I believe there is much to learn from cultures who are so rarely recognized in North American academics.

2. How can I take this aesthetic and make it my own?
The symbols these archaic cultures used are significant to their time period. I hope to take the overall importance of symbolism and narration and translate it to more contemporary, abstract images/objects.

3. What is my overall purpose for this phase?
I want to take a subject that I have worked with so many times and transform it into something I haven't yet imagined. I hope the push to remove my work from a western representation of life and death will help me discover a new view on the subject.

4. How will I begin?
I feel like I need to start drawing. I can imagine a general idea of structure/imagery but I need to focus on my specific thoughts on each cosmic level (sky, earth, underworld). Once I have symbols created I can combine them to create a narrative. Then, I can begin building :)

5. How will I finish this in the time we have left ?!
This is what I'm worried about...if anyone has methods that have worked well for them, please share. I think I might need to set deadlines for myself.