Botched Taxidermy Toy Animals

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/136610940910/040116-toy-botched-taxidermy-today-i-bought

Elephants!

As mentioned before elephants were a very noble animal in India. This is why they are found all over sacred temples and important places.

In this piece the craftsman has made a lion attack the elephant from behind. This illustrates nature and the circle of life but also probably has a much larger significance in Indian symbolism relative to the history and context of the temple!

In this piece of the wall art a larger elephant is kicking the baby, telling it to keep a move on. 

A close up of the lion. In this version it looks like the lion is being stopped (strangled) by the elephants trunk! But this may just be perspective. 

Animal Art in Villa Maya

I visited Villa Maya when I was in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and found loads of amazing animal inspired pieces around the small 'palace'. Villa Maya goes back many years to a time 'when Arumana ammaveedu held a prestigious place in the hearts of the kings of Travancore. Its tryst with royalty delves far beyond its 18th century avatar as a Dutch manor, dating back probably to the time when Maharajah Karthika Thirunal Dharma Raja shifted his capital from Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) taking along with him his four wives one of whom belonged to the Arumana Ammaveedu.' http://villamaya.in/people.php

The creature above was actually bought over for the 'palace' from Indonesia. It combines various animal elements in order to create a 'monster'; the fear comes from depicting 'the other' as I mention in my dissertation. This other worldly creature is impossible for us to categorise, as well as having fearsome traits such as large mouth, sharp teeth and claws and wings for flight; which all impact on the fear factor for the audience. Think about how threatening and scary this would have been back in a time when there was no such thing as special effects or horror films. 

I was told that the reason the outer walls were built so thick was to stop the force of elephants, which were the animals of choice for kings etc to ride on when invading. This is also evidenced in the wall paintings that I talk about in my dissertation.

Animal Designs in Henna.

As with the rest of Indian art, henna is filled with animal symbolism. While I was there I got the chance to have a go, and I loved it!

'The use of mehndi and turmeric is described in the earliest Hindu Vedic ritual books. It was originally used for only women's palms and sometimes for men, but as time progressed, it was more common for women to wear it. Haldi (staining oneself with turmeric paste) as well as mehndi are Vedic customs, intended to be a symbolic representation of the outer and the inner sun. Vedic customs are centered on the idea of "awakening the inner light". Traditional Indian designs are representations of the sun on the palm, which, in this context, is intended to represent the hands and feet.'

www.hennapage.com/henna/encyclopedia/id/             Gives a good description of times when animals themselves are henna'd, not just part of the design. When goats are sacrificed they are painted like brides and covered in henna. I am not sure if this is suggesting that brides going into marriage is like sending a goat to be slaughtered or if, less depressingly, it is like giving away a member of the family to the gods. Comparing an animal to a bride evokes fear and unjustness which just goes to stress the point that we are so dominant over animals. If we thought animals were happy and free to do as they will then we would have no problem being compared to them. But they are instead 'slaves' to humans, and referring to a human as animal suggests that the human does not have their own mind and choices. 

Brand: Fab India

Fab India was the only 'high end' shop I visited during my time in southern India... and it did not disappoint, it was filled with beautiful designs and crafts.

The shop was not big, but I spent hours in there looking at all of the items because of the amazing colour schemes and detailing on everything! I absolutely love Indian style and fashion, during my time there I was constantly in awe of the Indian peoples everyday saaris - the colours and combinations shocked and inspired me... in England people would avoid wearing even a black shoe with a brown bag! The textiles in Fab India were just as inspiring and full of animal influence - evidenced in the photographs from my sneaky picture taking at Fabindia below...

http://www.fabindia.com/

Animal Gods all over the place!

In India I found animal deities everywhere! It didn't make researching them very hard at all! Personal shrines were in every shop and most of the artwork and sculptures included animals or part animal gods, even door knockers and clothes were covered in animals- in my eyes they seemed to be the artists prime source of inspiration!

Inspiration at the Ashram and Temples of India!

During my time in south India I visited an ashram. I had no prior knowledge that these existed but visiting them proved really interesting and relevant to my Context of Practice topic on Homo sapiens relationship with animals.

What is an ashram?
The term ashram often denotes a locus of Hindu cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction. The one I visited was dedicated to yoga and it had been created to imbue a sense of peace but also purpose for the residents. Staying from 2 weeks to up to over a year, the people in the ashram are not allowed money, must do their duties (given jobs or chores around the ashram) and are only allowed one day out the ashram every week.

Scattered around the ashram garden were colourful statues of the Hindu gods, and all over the walls and, especially impressive, the ceilings were detailed paintings of the animal deities.

Homo sapiens relationship with animals in this setting was one of guidance, inspiration and reassurance. They were there to tell stories; something for the residents to learn from. The guy that was giving me a tour round was from Canada and was only just beginning to learn all the different stories of the gods and goddesses. He explained how he knew which gods were which in the art, often this was due to the colour and the situation the individual was painted in; not just their form.

This trip really helped me to see the importance of religious art in giving people something to pin the stories and their own interpretations on; it gave them a point of reference and visual reminders throughout the ashram. It also bought them to life; the huge overbearing portraits bought an intensity and power to the god as if they were watching over the ashram and keeping an eye on all the people in it.

This is really good for my project as I wanted to explore animal worship by Homo sapiens in my practical work for my imagined animal project! I plan to make a little shrine for my make believe animal, this will include statues or little sculptures of the animal, candles and flowers just like the ones I have seen all over India. I want to make mine outside in a tree as well like in one of the temples I visited which was dedicated to worshipers praying for children; little home made wooden cots and material dolls hung from the branches of the tree.

In this particular temple there was also incredible amounts of visual forms of animal worship. Unfortunately for me and my project photographs were prohibited... yet this is totally understandable as it is an incredibly sacred place and even though I am not Hindu, I was completely overwhelmed by the atmosphere inside the temple. There was a cow sculpture which seemed about 3 stories high, there were individual room-like shrines for specific gods and goddesses- the sculptures in these particularly were cared for as the living; clothes, incense and flowers refreshed regularly. This showed me how 'alive' these works of art were to the worshipers. These artworks are the only tactile and physical thing to worship (apart from sacred sights like the giant 'real' footprint of a god that I saw at the golden tip of India and some may recall this as an artwork - although not worshipers!). The use of animal in the sculptures (in the gods) bought an even greater awe- we are so used to being dominant over animals, that seeing a larger than life animal sculpture with queues of Homo sapiens worshiping and praying too, and also 'donating'/paying to see was incredible and powerful. The entire temple was incredible and unlike anything I have ever witnessed before. Everything about it was designed for impact or beauty. The dark candle light in huge empty spaces was almost creepy if it hadnt been for the beautiful shrines.