Pleiades at Pinto
2022
Pleiades is the most visible star formation in our night sky, next to Orion whose three-star belt was the Tres Marias of my childhood. Although they are universally known since ancient times as the Seven Sisters, only six can be seen with the naked eye. In this inscape are six manifestations of my lifelong search for the Sacred Feminine. All six of them have the same face and were cast from the same body - mine. Each one bears a message from the heavens.
Hovering in the center above is vermilion-colored DAKINI,
tantric sky dancer, the female embodiment of enlightenment.
Below her on the ground is an inverted triangle.
Dakini || cold cast marble and cast stone || life size || 2022
MAGDALENE is black in the ancient tradition of portraying Wisdom as Blackness.
She is Isis reborn, with a serpent cradling the cranial protuberance on her head.
Her hands and feet bear the wounds of the Christ’s crucifixion; her belly, his fruit.
At her feet lie a mound of skulls.
Magdalene || cold cast marble and cast stone || life size || 2022
Four-armed KALI, Goddess of Death and Destruction, is portrayed not with her usual protruding tongue, but with fangs.
She is blue from having consumed the poison of the monsters that she has just defeated.
At her feet lie the limbs of young children killed in her rampage.
Kali || cold cast marble and cast stone || life size || 2022
Horned and hooved INANNA has many breasts.
The bovine hooves and horns come from the critically endangered tamaraw.
Her color is the green of Nature.
At her feet is a mound of tamaraw horns, reminder of the slaughter of this species.
Inanna || cold cast marble and cast stone || life size || 2022
ESHU is the Lady of the Crossroads, mediatrix between gods and men.
She holds a cigar and a wine bottle, for tobacco and alcohol are habits she has retained
in order to be better attuned to the astral plane of humans.
Her living trident is used for lifting human garbage.
She lies on a bed of red volcanic cinder, surrounded by bubuli lizards here used to symbolize Memory.
Eshu || cold cast marble and cast stone || life size || 2022
Lying on a bed of white crushed marble, HALIYA, the Moon Goddess of Bicol is pregnant,
bearing the child of her union with the earthman from the sacred spring.
Her hand rests on her belly while she contemplates the fate
of the demigod inside her.
Haliya || cold cast marble and cast stone || life size || 2022
Small sculptures in polychrome cast stone. Average dimensions 10" x 7" x 6".
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Dark Gold Vimana -
Black Green Wheel -
Tea-Stained Vimana -
Black White 7-Eyes -
Bronze Green Vimana -
Pale Gold Vimana -
Silver White 7-Eyes
In a world that has long been dominated by patriarchal values, the Pleiades hopes to awaken the Sacred Feminine in all of us. The goddesses are here to help us recall ancient values of nurturing, inclusivity, generosity, compassion and caring. War is everywhere, and the only way we can counter it is to delve deep within ourselves to rediscover the importance of Love over intellectual pride and supremacy.
- Agnes Arellano
Pleiades at Pinto
6 November - 4 December 2022
Pinto Art Museum, Illustrado 1 Gallery 7
SONG of Kali (Ramprasad)
I am the dance of death that is behind all life
the ultimate horror
the ultimate ecstasy
I am existence
I am the dance of destruction that will end this world
the timeless void
the formless devouring mouth
I am rebirth
Let me dance you to death
Let me dance you to life
will you walk through your fears to dance with me?
Will you let me cut off your head
and drink your blood?
then will you cut off mine?
Will you face all the horror
all the pain
all the sorrow
And say “yes”?
I am all that you dread
all that terrifies
I am your fear
will you meet me?