Public Animas Ceremony Part 5b(8): Art. Let It In. (And Celebrate the Artists: Moma Fauna)

Continued lessons from the Public Animas Ceremony: An Invitation to Passion.

Moma Fauna. Mother, Mycophile, Animist, Object Whisperer.

*I must confess, this is a little awkward to include myself in this way for the ceremony documentation, but I am a completionist at heart.*

If The Vision is true, it will find the right people. Celebrate them.

With great regularity I come across fundraisers, auctions, art shows, etc. featuring varied artworks where there is no mention of the artist contributor as a person. A name, yes. Maybe it is the animist in me, but when I experience art, it usually makes me want to know more about the artist. I think the humans behind the art should be celebrated as much as their work. So, in an effort to do so, we created laminated biographies to accompany each of the bowls that were created for this ceremony. Since the bowls were auctioned off as part of the don't-let-your-ceremony-bankrupt-you strategy, each person who took home a bowl also took home something to help them "know" the artist better. It's all about relationship.

For the next few entries, I will be including the biographies of our artists in an effort to further celebrate them & express our gratitude. Also included are the statements they provided (if provided) about their piece for the Animas Ceremony: An Invitation to Passion.

Moma Fauna: Mother, Mycophile, Animist, Object Whisperer
Pray to the Moon & Other Things – Utah, Alaska

Moma Fauna is a Dreamworker, polytheist, magick and magic lover, a votary of the primordial mother Nyx, the Oneiroi and Cheerleader for the Moon. If you happen to be acquainted with her in the fleshworld, you may know her simply as Justine. Migrating seemingly at random between the Last Frontier & the lower 48, she seeks the exaltation of being in relationship with Place and the Spirit Objects which populate this world.

"Feral paparazzi-ethnographer, animist free-agent. I walk among the traditions. I can do this, as long as I have Lady Moon to guide me & mycelia at my feet." 

Moma uses art in in many forms as spiritual practice and tinkers in a variety of artistic mediums, being most fond of working with found objects, natural materials, paper scraps and her camera friend and companion. Photography is Moma’s second language and while she retains fond memories of the darkroom’s smell, she has reluctantly retired her SLR and film strips for a a self-taught dynamic with Adobe Photoshop and her digital camera. Either way, a macro lens is her favourite accessory.

While most of Moma’s muses shed spores, she also has an intense proclivity for rescuing and revitalizing abandoned trinket boxes which, much like Michelangelo’s marble blocks, speak to her of their true selves. In this context, she makes it her task to facilitate the self expression of object beings.

When she isn’t obliging the whispers of things, she makes her life practicing kindness, tending her to family, garden and community, foraging for wild foods and dancing with her pagan sisters in the sacred dance troupe, Resh K’eljesh. She occasionally finds the time to write about these things and more in her blog, Pray to the Moon.

To read more about Moma Fauna’s adventures and reflections, or see more of her photographic works, visit http://moma-fauna.blogspot.com/

Rapture, by Moma Fauna.

Rapture

Multi-Media: Wood, gesso, paper & etc. decoupage, acrylic 

About this piece: 

What is this thing?

A floral orgy? 

The true substance of paperscraps and glue? 

A common bowl making it big? 

Whisperings of the spirits? 

Rapture-in-hand?

What I feel when I think of You? 

Yes.