"Death Ritual II: Ginnungagap" by Troy's Work Table. Carport chalking for Friday 20 November 2015.
Sidewalk chalk, homemade sidewalk chalk, charcoal, chalk pastels, black walnut branches, paper leaves, sidewalk chalk paint, tempera paint.
---
Ginnungagap is the primordial void in Norse mythology. Eventually it filled with ice in which the world was frozen. The "first being," a giant named Ymir, was licked out of the ice by the true first being, a cow named Auðumbla. Or, alternately, Ymir emerged from the ice first and then Auðumbla.
Either way, Ymir was sustained by milk from Auðumbla.
---
Ymir was a creature of giant size. At some point as other beings are freed from the ice or born of Ymir in strange ways, the gods appear on the scene, whereupon Odin and his two brothers kill Ymir and create the earth and cosmos.
---
Ymir is "gone" as a being but his body is present in the foundation of all that we know and see of the material world. Auðumbla isn't mentioned again.
---
The Ymir I drew in chalk is based upon the Qilakitsoq mummies, especially that of a six-month old infant who was freeze-dried by the cold and found atop the adult mummies at the location.
I liked the idea of Ymir as a giant baby, with his head as large or larger than the cow's.
---
I drew Auðumbla based upon online photos of mummified cows.
---
The Child's class at school has been studying the cultural notions surrounding mummies, primarily Egyptian. They have also "mummified" apples using ancient techniques as a science experiment. So there have been plenty of discussions about mummies at home recently.
---
"Death Ritual" felt like the first of its kind as I created it, so it was "natural" to have a death ritual related to beginnings as the next in the series.
---
I am glad to have Ymir and Auðumbla out of me, as I was starting to dream about them.
---
It was 34ºF in the carport while I chalked and my hands were like blocks of ice toward the end. I had trouble making my fingers work my pruning shears when cutting the walnut branches and trying to place the paper leaves upon them.
---
View more pictures of "Death Ritual II: Ginnungagap" HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment