trickster?

mask.jpg

That day in the woods when I was looking up at the otherworldly looking fungi on a tree, I nearly stepped on this feathery mask on the ground not far from it. A child may have dropped it… was it part of a Mardi Gras costume?

mask2.jpg

Curious thoughts of a west coast forest spirit or a trickster played on my mind… and still do whenever I look at these photos.

Added a few hours later: It has been dawning on me that this reminds me of my owl-woman in my print ARKEO #4 (see the fabulous comments) and also repeated in ARKEO #7.

At the time I was making ARKEO #4, I was thinking vaguely of our Northwest Coast First Nations’ trickster, the raven, but later it dawned on me that it was also the Kalevala owl-woman Louhi. It was wonderful for me that readers saw other cultural mythic figures or tricksters in the work. Fascinating – I just love these kind of connections and exchanges.

April 4, 2011 in Arkeo, Folk Legends & Myths, Found Objects, Photoworks by Marja-Leena