ANIMA MUNDI - ORIGINAL 5m drawing in concertina book

ANIMA MUNDI ("Soul of the World") is an original, graphite drawing filling an A5 concertina sketchbook. The work extends to 5 metres long when fully open and folds back down again to fit into an A5 slipcase in order to protect it and which then fits neatly on your bookcase.

The imagery on the pages can be (re)combined with each other across the length of the concertina; creating different narratives and evading any finite reading. The tactility of this work is a huge part of the pleasure with the viewer given ownership of how their personal experience literally 'unfolds'.

ANIMA MUNDI is the result of over two years of intricate drawing and is therefore rich in both imagery and emotion. Dripping in sensuality and symbolism, the beautiful draughtsmanship invites us into a surreal world where nothing is set in stone and everything is alive with duality of meaning. There are severed heads and dry skeletal frames juxtaposed with fertile plants and flowers, questions emerge about: chaos, sexuality, death and decay. It is a depiction of a fantasy world in which the imaginable is given a darkly illustrative platform. ANIMA MUNDI explores Myth in its wider sense, anachronistically bringing together icons and motifs from different world mythologies to create an enigmatic open-ended, wordless narrative.

The book’s title comes from the Latin for “Soul of the World” and is, according to several thought systems, an intrinsic connection between all living things on the planet; an energy which relates to our world in much the same way as the soul is connected to the human body. This idea originated with the Greek Philosopher Plato but also relates to ideas found in Animism which predates this and which held that spirits exist in everything in nature such as other animals, plants, rocks, rivers, thunder, even shadows.

ANIMA MUNDI is also available as a digitally printed five metre long concertina book in an edition of 200 with a signed certificate of authenticity. The black book-cloth cover is blind debossed with the title and each book is housed in a card slip-case / sleeve.

Self-published in collaboration with Antlers Gallery, Bristol, UK and expertly printed by BOOKWORKS, London, UK

See a video of a section at the beginning of ANIMA MUNDI here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/6AktZfq06M/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==