Mythos Gone Modern
Behind the scenes of Mythology
Every ancient civilization has its share of mythological beasts, beings, and otherwise all-powerful deities and bodies. From Ancient Egypt to Ancient Greece, from Medieval to Modern Religions, each section of this world from all times has its certain set of beliefs, some based on semi-real events and some based on a complete farcity.
Mythology simply means the study and interpretation of fables and tales that have been held sacred by civilizations and cultures and are passed down through generations about a particular theme of the human condition: good vs evil, cultural traditions and values, the human origin, cultural relevance of animals, afterlife, the meaning and existence of a heavenly being of worship, gods or goddesses, extraterrestrial beings as the reason for certain structures, the meaning of life, etc. It is within the beliefs of these cultural themes that give the spoken word of the people meaning and prominence, allowing it to be strong enough to be passed through generations as word of mouth or written text. These mythological standards and/or beings are held steadfast in the culture, thus allowing for artistic representation to further enhance the belief.
In other words...
Mythos = (n) Greek; story of the people
Logos = (n) Greek; word or speech
Mythology = the spoken word or story of the people
Norse Mythology
Most of us have seen the action-packed blockbuster movie series known as the Avengers. We know of Thor, Odin, Loki, and all the rest. But do you know their historical background? They are a part of a grander scale of mythological literature from the Northern Germanic people; part of the Nordic civilization. The mythos behind Thor, Odin, Loki, and the others extends back to Nordic paganism all the way through the Christianization of Scandinavia and beyond. The tales of deities, beings, heroes, and others take place before and after paganism in the Nordic region (modern day Norway, Finland, Scandinavia, Northern German, Denmark, etc.). These myths took on forms of folk tradition, archeological representations, and medieval manuscripts.
One unfamiliar face not seen in the Avengers movies is the goddess Freyja. She is the Nordic goddess associated with love, fertility, war, beauty, gold, and seiðr, which is a type of old magic practiced in the late Scandinavian Iron Age and is said to be the magic of seeing and shaping the future. She is a member of the Vanir, a group of gods and goddesses who possess the same symbolic attributes and magical powers as Freyja. She is also often flanked by her cats as is depicted in a lot of representational artwork (Asgardian cat lady...).
Now let's forward to the project: if you were to take Freyja, a goddess associated with love, war, and gold, and with the ability to see and mold the future, how would you interpret her existence and modernize her? Perhaps you create a clay project of her sitting on a bench playing with tarot cards... or create a cardboard relief exhibiting her on a television game show that predicts the future... or perhaps she is sculpted in plaster and wire, sitting abstractly in front of a war desk with generals on either side, predicting how the war will turn out....
How would you modernize this mythological deity?
An illustration of Freyja and Loki having a heated discussion called a flyte, in which loaded verbal insults are hurled at each other. Created in 1895 by Lorenz Frølich
Inuit Mythology
The tales and myths of the Inuit culture are passed down orally from generations to expand, enrich, and enlighten the next. The Inuit civilizations ranges from the Bering Strait through Alaska and Northern Canada, extending all the way to Greenland. Their language and interpretations have connections to the Siberian and Finno-Ugric (North East Europe, Northern Asia, and Carpathian Basin [Hungary]) roots, as well, showing how diverse and well-migrated the ancient Inuit people possibly are.
They have a very unique way of looking at life through dance, art, story, sustenance, legend, and belief. Their entertaining and informative mythological retellings are filled with tales of good and evil and how the honored deities were symbiotically intertwined with the Earth, afterlife, death, the meaning of life, food, the connection between animal and human and Earth, the honoring of the land, the beginning and creation of life, and others. The Inuit stories were also passed down through artwork, through carvings in stone, wood, and bone (typically animal bone, such as a walrus tusk or a whale bone).
The difference between the Inuit culture and others is that the stories are not simply stories; they have a gravitas to them which involves a message of belonging and behavior attached to them. A tale told often had a moral and consequence involved, in which if a person did not heed the moral behind the story they were doomed to face the aftermath and the wrath of whatever the lesson may be.
Inuit culture had a strong connection between the animals and humans, the earth and the sea, specifically other worlds beneath the sea. The gifted angakoks (shamans, or spiritual leaders) were believed to go in to a trance-like state and see beyond the natural world, have visions beyond the sea, and be able to spiritually connect with the "other side". One of the most famous Inuit myths involves the sea goddess who goes by many names: Sedna, Nuliayuk, Taluliyuk, Taleelayuk. She is believed to be a young teenage girl who was taken by the ocean and became a keeper of the sea animals. There is also Kiviuq, who has a similar story as Sedna, and is believed to be a great Arctic wanderer and shaman, knew why everything was created, a legendary hunter and protector of the animals, and the reason for the abundance of fish and other sustenance in the Arctic.
If you were to interpret the story of Kiviuq, how would you do it? Perhaps he is sitting at a store handing out fish to passersby, sculpted in paper mache and clay... or maybe you create a hanging kinetic mobile or sea life with Kiviuq at the top of the mobile....
How would you modernize the myth of Kiviuq?
Below is a short art film to watch about the scaled sea serpent/half man Qalupalik.
TURN IT IN
This assignment involves an interpretation of a mythological feature from any culture of your choosing. You are to seek out a myth or a legend, research its meaning and its past, interpret its purpose, and create a sculpture of any 3D material of your choosing that shows the myth becoming modern. Maybe you choose the myth of Ares, the Greek God of War, sitting on a bench in the middle of Washington DC with military garb on... or maybe you choose the myth of ancient Babylonian Marduk, an often represented regional agricultural deity worshipped monotheistically by the Sumerians, and create his likeness in clay as he sits on a tractor farming the land.... or you could show the Greek goddess Athena walking down a catwalk, modeling for Prada or Ralph Lauren... The possibilities are endless! But here are a couple things to keep in mind with your sculpture:
Respect: you are dealing with another culture most likely, even if you choose Native American. You must represent your interpretation of these myths and your modernization of them as culturally respectful as possible. If there is any doubt that there is a derogatory stereotype happening, you will need to rethink how to showcase the being or deity or myth in a positive manner.
Accuracy: in doing research on anything, you must make sure that the accuracy of the myth stays in tact. Pay attention to where you get your sources! Wikipedia can be OK, but always check multiple sources so you have factual information on the myth (yes, they are myths and essentially oral fabrications passed down as stories, but you still must be true to the culture that created it)
Course-Specific: this means that since you are in a class that creates 3D work, your work must also be 3D. The materials are up to you, and you may mix several together, but it must adhere to the sculptural rules and forms.
Your assignment is as follows
Choose a mythological feature or being from another culture, interpret it, and recreate it in a modernize way that is sculptural.
Decide which materials/mediums would best fit the design for multiple reasons (aesthetics, concepts, literal balance and weight, etc.)