Artist inspiration and artist influences. No biographies, dates or scholarly research here - this is a personal response to the work of Marija Gimbutas by Australian artist Fiona Morgan.
Marija Gimbutas was an archeologist with more skills and background than
usual in linguistics, folklore, comparative religion and mythology. She
worked diligintly and hard across disciplines for many years to
synthesise data from her archeological digs, linguistics, folktales and
artwork. She saw connections that single discipline scholars could not
see. She went on to make interpretations of these connections that gave
the world a new way of thinking about pre Indo-European (Neolithic)
societies. Specifically, she believed she had decoded the symbolism and
mythologies of the Neolithic cultures.
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| Neolithic symbolism - brushes as symbols of energy |
I am fascinated by her interpretations and intuitive leaps. A lot of her
conclusions as to the symbolism and surrounding mythology seem to be
based on inferred information and can't be proven, or at least, not
easily. Her analysis of the artefacts is not necessarily accurate as
they are viewed through the lens of our current culture and time. She
has stirred a up a hornets nest with her assertion that Neolithic
culture was egalitarian, matrilinear, peaceful and Goddess worshipping.
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| Neolithic symbolism - tri lines as symbols of becoming |
She stood firm and presented what she had found, despite it
being so resoundingly unpopular with the academic world and I respect that attitude and fortitude. I really don't
know if her conclusions are intuition gone astray or insightful and
accurate.
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| Neolithic symbolism - vultures as symbols of death and regeneration |
What I do know is that her book, 'The Language of the Goddess' is a compendium
of European Neolithic symbolism. Whether her interpretations are correct
or not, Westerners like myself now have their cultural symbolic history
compiled and available to them.
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| Neolithic symbolism - eggs as symbols of regeneration |
When I was introduced to this book I was told a story of when it was
shown to Aboriginal elders. Their reaction was one of recognition and an
exclamation of, 'this is white man's Dreaming'. My intuitive reaction
was similar.
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| Neolithic symbolism - owl eyes as symbols of regeneration |
Whether Marija Gimbutas' conclusions as to the meanings of the symbols
are right or wrong, I now feel that I have a language of symbolism to
work with. And as someone fascinated by petroglyphs and rock art, that
is indeed a wonderful thing.
About the Creative Cauldron series of posts
The Creative Cauldron series of posts explores and showcases the visual styles, techniques, attitudes, ideas, artists and paintings that have had the most impact on me. The rest of the series is accessible via the Creative Cauldron page. Have a meander if you please, and remember to check out my artworks on Flickr, and have an insider peek at life as an artist on Facebook.
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