09CoatliqueSouth

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on November 8, 2014 at 9:45pm

Curator’s Comments:

 

(09) Coatlique South is a tantalizing image within your generally provocative series Religions of the Earth.  While I’m not very familiar with the specific iconography used alongside the mythological female figure, they appear to be ritualistic elements referencing the Aztec Serpent Goddess.  As the patron saint of women who die in childbirth, the figure understandably leans towards the macabre with a human skull off to the side. The zig zagging pattern on her skin and long red finger and toe nails imbue her with an animalistic presence; while her reclined pose removes any suggestion of a predatory posture. Instead she hovers in a twisting field of similarly patterned forms, suggesting living entrails or naturally undulating pathways. The movement of her hair could alternately suggest a watery flow of motion, just as the sun design moving behind her head implies she is part of the natural cosmic cycles. Compositionally, the pinkish background contrasts the blood red mass that covers her like a blanket.  She essentially is transformed into the ornamental jewel of her own heart necklace.