:: 2010 :: 60cm x 180cm :: Acrylics, Inks and Markers on Canvas ::
I have long felt and experienced curious parallels between scientific and shamanic symbols and modes of perception. This feeling was intensified when I read a book by anthropologist Jeremy Narby entitled Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge which draws analogies and parallels between South American shamanism and biological sciences, and these are expressed in this work. We see the (female) scientist joyfully examining a test tube on the left hand side of the image while the (male) shaman holds a drum beater up to his eyes on the right. This vertical symmetry continues throughout the work, with each aspect of the symbolism having its counterpart to create, not an expression of polar opposites, but a mandala of complementary aspects of the human being.
