Reduced to Alchemical Angel
Reduced to Alchemical Angel is the full title of my take on this beauty.
Inspired by one of 37 miniature watercolors depicted in the Aurora consurgens, an alchemical treatise and a commentary on the Latin translation of Silvery Waters by Muhammed ibn Umail at-Tamîmî (Senior Zadith) potentially written by a Sicilian Saint Thomas Aquinas in the 15th century and later attributed to “Pseudo-Aquinas”.
A gorgeous Black Female Angel with a sheathed dagger and a coiled serpent in her body standing on a ball of soil with her Emerald wings spread and glowing.
The book is absolutely amazing. It depicts the stages of the alchemical art of transformation. Here is an entirely scanned version of it link to it
Below is some information that may shed the light on this illustration
“The images of the Ethiopian and Sophia refer to the spirit or consciousness that can emerge from rejected or undervalued aspects of the personality”. This indicates that the dark-skinned Melancholy-Sophia is a content of the unconscious that can be brought to consciousness through the process of alchemy".
1420
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS. Parisinus Latinus 14006Black Angel on a Black sun, a symbol of Nigredo, watercolour painting from "Aurora Consurgens", ca. 1420. (Early Muslims sometimes depicted the Archangel Michael in Heaven with wings of emerald green)
But It all comes down to Sophia is the feminine principle of all creation, known as the Goddess of Wisdom.
It is so poignant today because not only working with the shadow self and accepting all parts of you is the way to true wisdom, but overcoming racism and realizing that all people of all nations are you. I would say beyond this reality and beyond what we consider right or wrong or monstrous in terms of qualities. We need to move so far beyond judgment where most of us have never travailed.
I’ve built this angel with the focus on the exploration of vortexes and chakras, i.e. the power of these sacred places within our bodies and structures. For research done on the subject read here
Reduced is normally used on a price tag of things that buy in a supermarket when they reach theirs out of date period. Both the feminine principle and black people have been rendered inadequate or less important.
But in a sentence or a title ‘ REDUCED TO ALCHEMICAL ANGEL,’ it is obvious that it is impossible to undermine the meaning and value or even try to reduce of such a subject, being, person or individual.
The 🦁 sleeping above it reminds me of Cybele the Mother of Gods always depicted with her lion companions. A mistress of wild nature, goddess of fertility she was worshipped with orgiastic rites in the mountains of Anatolia. Agreeably, this would explain why the work looks like an anatomical structure of ovaries as pointed out by a friend masseur and all of this in conjunction with the title of the work ‘Reduced to Alchemical Angel’, can you hear a little sarcastic tone…
As exhibited at ‘Stuff of the Universe’ show
210 x 90 cm
mixed media embroidery on fabric
2019