Serpents

The serpent slithers through the human imagination, appearing in creation lore across every culture and continent; it is one of the oldest and most universal creatures in mythology. A powerful symbol of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing, these potent creatures represent the dual expression of good and evil. Layered throughout these graphic images of serpents on classic patterned wallpaper are representations of both the natural and unnatural; abstracts of the tension between humanity and nature. Snakes elicit strong responses as viewers will either be drawn to their hypnotic shapes or recoil in fear.

“The serpent carries in itself the sense of both the fascination and the terror of life.” - Joseph Campbell

The snake represents knowledge and wisdom. It paints a stark tale of the consequences of careless stewardship of knowledge and the dangers of knowledge in the absence of understanding. The deified Greek physician Asclepius, the son of Apollo and Coronis and god of medicine and healing, carried a wooden staff encircled by a serpent. This symbol persists as our icon for modern medicine. Asclepius acquired a knowledge of healing so powerful, after observing one snake resurrect another from the dead, that he surpassed all other healers in the realm. He cured the sick and recalled the dead to life. But his gift created a dangerous imbalance as human numbers spiraled, unleashed from mortality’s grip. To restore balance, Zeus slayed Asclepius with a bolt of lightning, ensuring that the human quest for immortality and eternal health would not come at the sacrifice of all other earthly creatures.

The battle for existential balance at the heart of this myth is one of the most fundamental challenges facing modern civilization. As we inhabit a garden in ruins, under a compromised tree of knowledge, who will guide us? In this moment, society needs a transformative rebirth, a shedding of skins, a new existential path. These images are offered as a meditation on the wisdom embedded in thousands of years of the symbolism of the snake: the courage to pursue knowledge and use it with understanding. To allow for transformation. To value balance as the organizing principle of our existence.