Chantel Roice BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2015
Triple Goddess Creature Figures: Vessels of Sacred Ecofeminism
I have created three sculptural figures, a background, and an illustration in order to connect the Neopagan Triple Goddess archetype with ecofeminist theory. The figures are connected with the maiden, mother, and crone aspects of the Triple Goddess, and they are called the Sky Sylph, Forest Fae, and Sea Sprite respectively.
I created these figures with natural materials (wool & fabric dyed with plant & insect materials, animal materials, stones & crystals, watercolor paints and paperclay), and the background with commercially dyed paper and chemically dyed wool. The figures are based on animals that live in the sky, forest, or sea depending on the individual. They also each have torsos and breasts reminiscent of human bodies, in order to connect them with the divine feminine and the long tradition of goddess idol-making which they follow.
Their animal-creature visages and the natural materials that they are made of ties them to the environment, their hallowed chest cavities tie them to the environmental damage done by humans, and their confident and wise poses connect them to ecofeminist beliefs in treating both women and nature with respect. The contrast of the figures’ natural materials against the chemically dyed backdrop alludes to the heavily polluted and chemically altered earth.
The purpose of this project is to express the ecofeminist idea that nature and women are oppressed and harmed in a variety of similar ways, and in order to fix this, respect and reverence must be fostered and offered to both.