Anima Mundi

Anima Mundi examines the similarities between a variety of differing mythologies. In this construct Julie Anne uses the tree as the guiding premise of the work. The tree depicts the interconnected heritage human beings share through archetypal myth (Carl Jung, 2017, Comparative mythology) and legend. Indicating that although the myths are different and concern different characters they are comparative and to some degree universal or archetypal.

Artist’s secret thoughts
Using the tree as the central point of analysis, it depicts the interconnected heritage human beings share through archetypal myth and legend. I explore the concept of global entity through the phylogenetic tree, replacing the genealogy of genes with the existential influence of myth and legend.
As an artist resident in Switzerland, the subject of (im)migration intertwined through the Anima Mundi series of close to my heart. As I personally learn to integrate into a new culture I chose to draw upon my physical and spiritual heritage to retain my own identity whilst embracing Switzerland. The tree as metaphor has always been deeply personal for me. The visual connotations of heritage, strength, survival, interconnection, and the resultant form of the trees have been apparent to me on the windswept landscape of the Isle of Man, where I was born and raised. Their naked, contorted forms, a map of their lives, fill me with a joyous wistfulness.
Claude Levi Strauss held that the myth's purpose was to "mediate" oppositions, thereby resolving basic tensions or contradictions found in human life and culture. I hold the same belief, and I wish to present this through my work.

Home

Home #2

Kodama Spirit of the Tree

Artist’s statement
The theme peculiar to this piece is based on "the sycamores of turquoise" in Egyptian mythology. This tree embodies the spirit of Nut & Hathor.
On their journey to the underworld, dead souls are given food and water from the branches of the tree... These branches become the hands of the mother goddess offering sustenance to those that are dead.
The hands are designed, embracing the Two-dimensionality of the Egyptian hieroglyph. A cartouche adorns the piece, not because it can tell one anything, but because I like using language as a visual tool but not a readable one. The curious can figure it out should they so desire.
The work is dualistic, on one side it looks like an archaeological find in contrast to the freshness of the other. Similar to the ancient themes expressed within imbibed with contemporary significance now & and in the future.

The Next Plain

“I could have worked in any material, but glass found me first”

Julie Anne Denton

Two Ravens

There are no concrete answers when dealing with the themes of this work. The ‘Anima Mundi’ series was developed by Julie to inform without preaching that our ‘roots’ are from a common source and our basic needs are no different from that of the tree.

Secret Calendar

Abstract Landscape

Home - Under the Hammer

Julie Anne’s series is a topical commentary on the contemporary issue of migration (immigration) which has occurred since the Homo erectus species started migrating across Eurasia (see figure above). Many pre-modern populations found a need to emigrate due to changing climate, landscape and/or inadequate food supply.

In the modern world emigration is also driven by the same basic principles. These principles can be arguably summed up in short using Everett Lee’s model of migration (Everett Lee, 1966, A theory of migration) as the struggle to obtain opportunity, freedom, sex and security.

Map of human migration 60,000 years ago, National geographic 2017

Julie Anne Denton designed the series Anima Mundi to celebrate and embrace diversity whilst drawing on the similarity of world cultural roots. The tree motif is a common theme in Julie Anne’s work. The tree is synonymous with stability, longevity, growth and renewal (see Peter Underwood, 1978, Dictionary of the occult). The political atmosphere man lives under is at the very least unsure and although the human animal is assured of growth, one cannot count on renewal, longevity or stability.

The times humans now live in are far removed from the lifecycle of the tree. Each nation in this world wants to protect what is theirs. Populations are on the increase and debatably capitalism will break down by 2050 (see Paul Mason, 2016, Postcapitalism: A guide to our future). Prosperity must spread ever further and increasingly countries are imposing severe checks on migration control in order to keep their current level of amenities and economics.