Project Pleiades

2017

PROJECT PLEIADES is a quaternity of goddesses, four of seven to complete the Seven Sisters/ stars of the Pleiades (work in progress). These are based on ancient religions and myths and is part of my lifelong research on the feminine principle in religion, a search for the Sacred Feminine. Using body casts of my own naked body to delve into comparative mythology and archetypal symbols, I depict four goddesses, with their arms in the epiphany position...

Dakini

Dakini – a Tantric goddess in Vajrayana Buddhism who rids us of the petty preoccupations that keep us from being enlightened.

Inanna

Inanna from Mesopotamia – a multibreasted cow goddess endowed with hooves and tamaraw horns, who is also derived from our local Bagobo myth of Mebuyan, goddess of the Underworld who feeds children who die at childbirth.

Kali

Kali from ancient India – goddess of Time, and Death and Destruction, with four arms and fangs instead of the usual tongue.

Magdalene

Magdalene from Biblical times – Isis reborn, with a serpent on top of the cranial protruberance in her head. Her hands and feet bear the wounds of Christ's crucifixion; her belly, his fruit.

In a world that has long been dominated by patriarchal values, PROJECT PLEIADES hopes to reawaken 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.