Divinity

Divinity was originally intended to be the last of three works about immortality, however, in the process of working with the theme of immortality through legacy, a broader topic of religion and culture as it relates to the fundamental state of humanity was discovered. As such, this piece has a much broader scope than the previous two, and marks a new thematic path for subsequent work.

The work deals with how myths and legends relate to the formation of society, and how to be as an individual. The symbol of the Ankh is used for its double meaning, ordinarily it is a symbol for life, which is still used prolifically in modern Egypt, however, when held in the hand of a god the Ankh becomes a symbol for immortality. This thin barrier between these two modes is fascinating, as it can be seen as an acknowledgement of how fundamentally intertwined life and immortality are, that on the scale of the individual it is limited, but on a broader scale of a species, a society, or an idea it is limitless. The narrative of the work roughly follows Joseph Campbell’s ‘Hero’s Journey’, which gives it structure which firmly roots it in the practice of storytelling. The narrative was also designed to be understood in different layers, on one level it is the myth of an individual character’s journey, on another it is the legend of a society and culture, and in another way it is a commentary on the intertextuality between the two.