The ANIMA PROJECT

Spirit of Nature

2011-10-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

Of all the Anima prints, Anima #4 best represents feminine power and strength women. She is seen as an abstract, vessel like form. Within her is the spirit of nature.

Shape of the Soul

2010-04-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

Anima #10

Sway

2010-04-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

3 Forms

Anima #16 Anima #17 Anima #18

Two Forms

Anima #9 Anima #8

The Feminin Soul of Nature

2010-04-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

Anima #11 Anima # 12

The Anima Sequence 8-15 © 2009

2009-08-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

Digital Pigment Prints on Somerset Rag
Image Size: 40" x 70" with a 1.5" deckled edge
Shadow Box 47" x 77.5"
Limited to 10 Editions

Anima # 13

Anima # 14________ _______Anima #15

The second sequence of ANIMA was shot on Kodak film in 2009 in the Sahara Desert in Mali. I was there working on completing the Africa VI Portfolio: Tuareg, 2005-2009 and had the intention of making additional ANIMA images for a larger series to create an experience of the Feminine Principle, so central to Animist beliefs. The veiled Tuareg women are playing with the wind to demonstrate the movement and breath of Anima.

Elisabeth Sunday

Soul of a Woman

2009-08-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

Digital Pigment Prints on Somerset Rag
Image Size: 40" x 70" with a 1.5" deckled edge
Shadow Box 47" x 77.5"

Limited to 10 Editions

Anima #4

Anima #3 Anima #1

Anima #2 Anima #5

The ANIMA photographs were shot in the desert in early 2008. I thought about the wind, the people and how the Tuareg people are unified with their desert world. A rough translation of their tribal name in English means "the free people." I wondered how I could translate the sense of unity with wind, land, and being into one image using gesture and form.

Elisabeth Sunday

Photography and Bronze

2009-07-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

Emerge, © 2007
30" x 40" Silver Print and Life Size Bronze Figure

THE ANIMA PROJECT

Soul of the World

anima

(Latin: animal life, a living being, living; breath; soul; mind)

Anima-, refers to “a living being” from a Latin form meaning, “of air, having a spirit, living,” which in turn comes from another form meaning, “breath of air, air, soul, life”.

The Anima Project is a focused, positive affirmation that we all hail from a balanced, co-creative relationship with the natural world. It affirms an intimate and unalienable connection with nature.

In imagining this project, I was inspired by the many animist people I have known over my 25 years of photography. Among them are the Efe of the Ituri Rain Forest in the Congo Basin, the Aboriginal Elders in Australia, and the Tuareg people of the Sahara Desert. All of these traditional people see themselves as an integral part of natural systems. The Efe for example, cannot imagine a forest without its people; they are the children of the forest and embody the consciousness of nature. The forest is one living system inclusive of all the forms of life. My artistic contribution is to bring this positive message from people who have lived with the rhythms and cycles of nature for millennium. The Anima Project serves to remind us, as indigenous people have reminded me, of who we are and where we come from.

The Anima Project has two exhibition components. The first is the Anima Sequence: A series of 20 large-scale prints. The second is the Breath of Anima: a set of 4 life-size bronze sculptures recreated from my photographs. The premise for this exhibition is to illustrate the relationship between the soul of nature, (the Anima Sequence), and the forms of life, (the Breath of Anima). The photographs are displayed in a circular formation to acknowledge the feminine principle of nature. At the center of this circular exhibition are the smaller, maquettes arranged in the center so that they don’t obscure the line of sight. The life size bronzes can be shown in the sculpture court. These two media, the photographs and the bronzes, exemplify the call and response between the natural world and ourselves. The photographs represent the Anima, and the bronze figures represent manifestations of Anima, or life. My project thesis is based on the indigenous belief in the soul of nature and that of the world. This is at the core of animist culture; they see the earth and everything in it as alive, as Anima.

Elisabeth Sunday © 2009

The Bronze Figures

2009-07-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

Artists have a long tradition of collaboration and learning different techniques from each other in order to express their work in new ways. It is not uncommon for us to find others with whom we can share ideas, talents and creativity. For years I have imagined creating life size bronze sculptures from my photographs and finally met a master sculpture with whom I could work in creating these new forms.

After inquiring at the Berkeley Foundry, which is not far from my studio, I met Louis through Tom who runs the place. Louis and I met and discussed working together on the AMINA project bronze figures. Indeed, after our meetings- sifting through photographs and looking at his work in the studio, I knew I found the right person to assist me in transforming my photographs into life size bronze sculpture. Louis made it very clear, he will see the work through my eyes, respect my vision and harness his skill to make it so. We will work together in his studio, two artists, making beauty.

If you are interested in learning more about the project, or would like to support the production of the bronze sculptures, please email me at IturiSun@gmail.com

Elisabeth

The Anima Project Launch

2009-07-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

July 15th, 2009

My grandfather, Cleveland artist Paul B. Travis, (1891-1975), told me artists contemplate the same questions for decades. Questions and ideas require time to evolve through experience, research and artistic investigation. He confessed he had been thinking about the same questions for 30 years.

As a teenager I went to the Ojibwa Reservation and asked if I could meet the oldest people there. As a college student got to know several native people on the Hoopa Reservation and spent time with the elders. I had lots of questions. Eventually this quest lead me to Africa and to the hunting and gathering people, the Efe, of the Ituri Rain Forest in the Congo Basin. I have been exploring the questions, 'how did we understand and relate to the natural world? Was the world 'alive?' How did this relationship express itself and how did it influence our survival?' Could nature speak? If so, could they teach me to listen?' Perhaps it is this enthusiasm, this passion to see through their eyes that has made me so welcome in tribal communities over the decades.

Indigenous people who have remained animists, still connected to the earth for millennium, are uniquely positioned to offer us insights lost to us with the modern age.

After years of spending time with people living in remote parts of Africa, I have created an body of work and exhibition concept with both bronzes and photographs that address our primal relationship with Nature. I call it, The Anima Project: soul of the world.

This blog is part of the project launch where I will post on the progress and the process of the work. If you sign up, you will receive automatic notifications when I have posted to this site.

Thank you for your interest in my work and following along,

My Wild Best,

Elisabeth Sunday

(Elisabeth Sunday Portfolios)