Axis Mundi Book of Joy/Sorrow

Medium: Hannamuler paper and ink
Book cloth, hand marbled paper.
Size: approx: 53 cm x 33 cm x 32 cm
Date:2010
Description:
The book entitled Axis Mundi: Tree of Sorrow/ Tree of Joy, draws on the cross cultural symbol of what is termed the Tree of Life in Christian Mystism. The tree is one of the many manifestations of this symbol and depicts a point where heaven earth and the underworld meet, with the branches reaching into heaven, the trunk moving through earth and the roots digging deep into the underworld.
The Axis Mundi in this work is constructed from re-written Afrikaans love poems, which explores the various authors emotions concerning the joy’s and sorrows weaving through love.

This Tree an illustration of the Axis Mundi becomes a central point, a place of ‘onement’ where several opposite positions meet.