The Dark Goddess-New Series Preview

The Dark Goddess, Self Portrait

To go into the dark with a light is to know the light

To know the dark, go dark, without sight,

And find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,

And is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

– Wendell Berry, To Know the Dark

This photo is from a shapeshifting series that I am currently working on.  This series is loosely based on the legend of the Valkyries, but it is inspired by the iconography and energy of the all of the dark goddesses. Lilith, Inanna, Pele, Medusa, Kali, Sekhmet, Hecate and all of the goddess archetypes that move in and through the shadows. I am especially interested in the dark goddesses and their relationship to shapeshifting and ravens, so the Valkyrie archetype was an apt choice, since the Valkyries are most closely associated with ravens. Other images from this series will show the goddess shapeshifting into a raven.

In the image above, I wanted to portray the goddess as she was portrayed in ancient art. In particular, I was attracted to the Ancient Egyptian Nile Goddess (or, “Bird Goddess”) since this statue typifies the exaggerated female form that is often seen in depictions of the goddess (and it also follows the woman-as-bird idea). This is a very difficult series to work on from a technical standpoint, because the technique I am using to achieve this effect  is very unusual and physically demanding. Like all of my series, all of these effects are done in-camera, and even though the background looks like a Photoshop “texture” it is actually a cement wall that I am projecting my shadow onto. Of the hundreds of photos I shot in order to capture the essence of the archaic goddess form, this one ended up being a perfect match for what I had envisioned. Her hips are overly exaggerated in contrast to the rest of her form, and her arms are in the morphing stage (in other photos they will become wings). There are also ghostly remnants of facial features- an effect which was a happy accident.

This is a very interesting series for me to execute, because it literally feels like shape-shifting to me-more than any of the other work I have done. I have been tapping into the very dark, shadowy, primal places lately. This series is a result of my own journey into the realm of the dark goddess.

[Via http://musecatcher.com]