6.5.21 - Medieval Crows, 'The Wicker Man' 1973, & the 'Gown of Humiliation'

 


‘Thanks to their bright gaze and their completely dark body, crows are birds related to witchcraft. In addition to being smart, crows have extremely good vision that was even harnessed by the gods of pagan religions to use these animals as guides or spies. Warlocks who have crows are because they see in them a kind of spiritual guide through the world of the dead. Witches generally perform love binding spells and love spell with the help of birds.

The strength behind these animals is still a mystery even to the witches themselves who hope that they will truly protect them from all the evils that could come to their lives through magic. However, beyond any supernatural power that can be conferred on them, the respect that witches have towards nature has also made these animals protected due to their importance.’

http://www.surfbirds.com/community-blogs/mothernature/2020/04/13/birds-with-magical-powers-according-to-witchcraft-and-satanism/

In this piece I have decided to relate my work more closely to the period of time that I am interested in by researching medieval illustrations, many of which come from bestiaries, to use as my references. 

I found various crow illustrations, though I couldn't find information on all of them, and chose my favourite one to make into a stitched drawing. I thought this particular crow drawing looked so characterful and I loved the unique way it appears to be walking. I think many drawings from the Middle Ages have a certain childish quality about them which I find really endearing and they make me happy.

To make this piece I started by drawing the outline on calico and painting it black with watercolour, then I cut it out and stitched it onto another patch of fabric. I added the details and frayed the edges of the calico around the outside of the crow to give a rustic feel and add texture. My thought process takes me through various associations from scarecrows, to potato sacks, to harvest, then to ritual. A film that this reminds me of is The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973) which is a folk horror that provides a lot of inspiring imagery that relates to my project, especially the use of animals, costume, masks and ritual iconography. 


Experimenting with different colours and grid arrangement -

 I enjoy the patchwork effect of this arrangement, similar to the final piece I did for the comfort zone project. The earthy tones are my favourite colours for this piece because of the reference to the lack of different dyes they had in the middle-ages - only the rich and powerful could afford colour to exhibit their status, while peasants, including witches, wore very neutral fabrics as shown in this image I found:

The work of Alberto Burri also uses these kinds of textures and colours.

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