The Psychology Behind the Illustrations
So the other day, Soph and I took our first stab at a new composition. The topic was Toucan, the Devout; arch sentinel over the Islands of Joie. We laid our resource materials out before us and took our bearings.
Toucan must express Joy as the essential Inspiration of childhood on its course toward the more mature Devotional stance of adulthood.
Toucan is one of the six Island Animal moods embodying the scattered and playful energy of a Seven on the Enneagram. Her role in balancing the Five other inhabitants of the Island demands that she be less selfish than the bereft Jelly Fish and Python, less kindhearted than her neighbors Elephant and Otter, and located close by her restless companion Lemur.
Toucan and Lemur are the only two endemic occupants of the Isle of Joie. Their background imagery must provide two perspectives of the Oniri Tree Garden - a paradisiacal place that is falling to ruin.
The Jungian archetype of the Explorer unites all inhabitants of the Isle of Joie. The image must evoke an awareness how Toucan uses her sense of adventure to offset the paradoxes of her being.
As one of the Six animal Moods in FERUS TEL designated to express our most intense levels of fear, Toucan’s environment must indicate a sense of Desperation.
Simultaneously, Toucan belongs to a select group of six who have resolved their aggressions and convey deeply grounded energy. Her demeanor must radiate a peaceful response to her desperate environment.
Look closely at the composition of each animal character in the Menagerie.
What conversations do you hear taking place?
Sophie’s first draft of Toucan suggesting conflict between the beam of light pulling her gaze upward as her fragile eggs tilt out of her nest.
The True Self Menagerie offers no simple solutions to the inherent complexities within each mood. Instead, it hopes to place us in their immediate proximity. The underlying message of the True Self Menagerie:
Our Animal Moods are meant to provoke us with archaic questions still aching for resolution.
Our relation to each Mood evolves as we grow.
Look closely and look again.
We invite you to play with us as we see what comes next.
Jonathan Bartlett
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