And as Medieval Illuminated manuscripts have always been one of my great loves, it would seem that a project whose title was Imago Mundi, would inevitably be something that would appeal to me.
The first Imago Mundi was written by Honorius de Autum in the 12th Century.
I suppose you'd call this person an intellectual, who lived in Germany or possibly England , , anyway he was someone who wrote prolifically on many many subjects. Oh and it is said that he was probably of Irish origin.
His writings were said to be lively and informal, making them approachable for those few citizens who
a). had the means to learn to read and write and b) could afford to somehow be able to access these works of literature. It wasn't as it is for us, ie we can access a lot of knowledge in the English language. And if we can't understand an article in a foreign tongue - we can always use Google translate.
Nonetheless it is said that his writings were actually translated into some other languages languages. Bear in mind that at that time (his era) these would have had to be handwritten copies.
One anecdote that I find very amusing is the mentions of his inclusion in this encyclopedia a scheme for the operation of guardian angels. I am not clear as to what this means perhaps it is to do with the procedures of the guardian angel 'club' so to speak. An outline of the process of obtaining a guardian angel. Maybe it was the etiquette as in how to address them and the do's and the 'don'ts' etc etc etc !!
By the way here is Wikipedia link to a selection of Medieval Maps of the World if you would like to see more. Anyway it sometime in 2017 that I got an invitation from Layla Rose. It informed me of an international project being organised by the Benetton Foundation called Imago Mundi.
Anyway so of course someone like that invariably traveled internationally and as he was always interested in art and design - recreational time was dedicated to a variety of cultural pursuits. Funnily enough it was when he was in Ecuador (where my very good friend Tatiana comes from).
Yes it was while he was in Ecuador, in 2006 that he first got the idea - where from - wouldn't you know - AN ARTIST. By the way when I was studying advertising within the design studies of my Bachelors degree programme, it was clear that advertising appropriates/ borrows however you want to phrase it, a lot of ideas formats etc etc from Fine Art.
Anyway it was sometime in 2017 that I got an invitation from Layla Rose, who got the job of coordinating the artists for the 'collection' of artists for Scotland.
MY PROCESS AND APPROACH
I started by getting together a load of mount board and lightly drawing fairly sparse iconographic symbolic like images onto these in pencil.
My idea being that I would then score/scorch into these with a pyrography tool that I have hardly ever used. So I did about 5 or 6 of these - you can see some of the images in the photo taken in my worktop there. However ultimately I was not happy with any of them. My intention was that after the 'burning' I would then add a layer of beeswax. I had previously done this a long time ago and I had even put a little post on here about it.
Its a website that you could get lost in, as there is so much fantastic food for visual artists well for anyone really.
In the 8th century, in a monastery in the mountains of northern Spain, 700 years after the Book of Revelation was written, a monk named Beatus initiated a project of books writings art etc to illustrate a collection of writings he had compiled about this most vivid and apocalyptic of the New Testament books. I absolutely love this stuff.......
This is something that sometimes happens as all visual fine artists will know. Its all very well having the ideas and that can be the most fun part of the project......however when it comes to realising those ideas into something physical ...........well then that's another matter all together. As it was such a very small size - I felt somewhat inhibited, by it I have to admit.
Text accompanying my image on. IMAGO MUNDI
Inspired by medieval illuminated manuscripts, this piece of artwork represents the complexities of human life and culture. Using Russian text from a children’s story book along with images of petrified infant skeletons, it alludes to the atrocities of war and the innocence of children.
It celebrates the acquisition of knowledge and our search for beauty.
Title: "Beatus"pigment inkjet on paper with wax over layer, size: 12 x 10 cm
Here is what the SCOTLAND catalog book looks like. I still don't actually have my copy of it. They were sent to DCA in Dundee for us artists to go along to, to collect. I managed to ask the print studio staff to agree to go collect them and requested that they hold on to mine until I next visited there to do some printmaking.
The awful thing is that I probably have been along there since but typical me, I completely forgot to ask for it. I mean its April 2019 now.........a lot of time has elapsed so I just hope that it is still there in the office.
I do like the look of the item and the title; Myth/Reality. I dont know whether it has an ISBN......I will find that out eventually hopefully.
Melina Doumy
Siobhan Healy
Pete Thomas
Cordula Marks-Venters (delightful !!)
Finally HERE IS A LINK TO THE IMAGO MUNDI PROJECT WEBSITE.