Thursday, 16 August 2012
nude with selachophobia
This is a fortuitous theme for me, because I have an out-of-town guest for a week, and so won't be able to make a new collage. This is one I made a couple of years ago.
There's a bit of a story to go with it. I think all good phobias should come with a story. I'm afraid of spiders: that's my only true phobia. My relationship with sharks is rather more complicated...You have to understand: I love sharks. They are sleek, beautiful, ancient, misunderstood animals who are endangered by fishing all over the world. I founded the mailing list SHARK-L; I'm an activist for shark conservation; I even built a website devoted to all things sharky.
But... (here's the complicated part) I grew up with a large, angry, irrational, all-consuming mother, so ever since early childhood, I've been afraid of being eaten alive. I have this fear that I will be quietly minding my own business--like Pierre Bonnard's wife putting on her cologne, from the gorgeous "Nude Against Daylight"--and this monster will swoop in from nowhere, open her horrendous maw, chomp me into chunks, and eat me up! (I sure hope my mother never reads this... =laugh=)
Mothers can be monsters that is for sure, beautifully illustrated!
ReplyDeleteWhoa Fi...what a fear and what a great illustration of it!
ReplyDelete(Reading this reminded me that when I saw the movie Jurassic Park and experienced the towering and terrorizing T-Rex I was reminded of my feelings towards my father...a reaction not unlike yours.)
Well, Fi and CC, must say I'm feeling a little blessed about my parentage...great collage, tho, something about the contrast between the frilly, feminine background and the Great White makes it for me!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great comments, y'all!
ReplyDeleteMarvellous image and story Fi.
ReplyDelete