Nicole Wassall
Spirit Animals, 2023
Etching/drypoint on Somerset 100% cotton rag paper (paper recycled from an earlier work "Flying Geisha Girl")
26 x 38 cm
10 1/4 x 15 in
each
Set of 9
10 1/4 x 15 in
each
Set of 9
edition of 9
Copyright The Artist
Series of 9 etchings Spirit Animals, a collection of 9 prints, references Native American animal medicine. The intention of the shamans and healers, who share this spirit animal wisdom, is...
Series of 9 etchings
Spirit Animals, a collection of 9 prints, references Native American animal medicine. The intention of the shamans and healers, who share this spirit animal wisdom, is to help people understand their connection to Mother Earth via a form of divination. In animal medicine a spirit animal is one that becomes a power ally, a teacher to grow and learn with.
The spirit animals are laid out in the form of a ‘Pathway Spread’. The position of each card is relevant in terms of what the animal is teaching us. 1. Past (Bramble Cay Melomy), 2. Present (Imperial Woodpecker), 3. Future (Monarch Butterfly), 4. Current lesson (Seahorses), 5. Lessons completed (Flying Fox Bat), 6. What’s working for you (Lyrebird), 7. What’s working against you (Polar Bear). Further, the artist has chosen to add two cards, 8. Unknown Knowns and 9. Unknown Unknowns, to indicate that this pathway is still evolving.
These creatures were chosen for the pathway spread because they’ve already been affected by climate change and because, in all likelihood, they will go extinct in our lifetime. The position of the cards was chosen based on intuition, the artist looked up the specific lesson of each position later, to better understand what the spirit animals are telling us.
Spirit Animals, a collection of 9 prints, references Native American animal medicine. The intention of the shamans and healers, who share this spirit animal wisdom, is to help people understand their connection to Mother Earth via a form of divination. In animal medicine a spirit animal is one that becomes a power ally, a teacher to grow and learn with.
The spirit animals are laid out in the form of a ‘Pathway Spread’. The position of each card is relevant in terms of what the animal is teaching us. 1. Past (Bramble Cay Melomy), 2. Present (Imperial Woodpecker), 3. Future (Monarch Butterfly), 4. Current lesson (Seahorses), 5. Lessons completed (Flying Fox Bat), 6. What’s working for you (Lyrebird), 7. What’s working against you (Polar Bear). Further, the artist has chosen to add two cards, 8. Unknown Knowns and 9. Unknown Unknowns, to indicate that this pathway is still evolving.
These creatures were chosen for the pathway spread because they’ve already been affected by climate change and because, in all likelihood, they will go extinct in our lifetime. The position of the cards was chosen based on intuition, the artist looked up the specific lesson of each position later, to better understand what the spirit animals are telling us.