Novelli Photography

Airtha Allegories

Airtha Allegories, or“Earth Stories,” is a series of photographs I started in August 2011. It depicts portraits of mythical deities, comparing relationships in nature to personal relationships in my life, thus suggesting the possible spiritual connection people can have with the environment. The work has evolved to include literary components, as well as sculpture and other mixed media.



Today, society faces many challenges regarding our natural habitats. Because of this, the connection between people and nature is interrupted or forced. People conserve nature as a societal act of self preservation. There are many who admire the beauty of land and wildlife, yet the celebration of nature does not seem to extend further than sectioning it off into national parks and nature reserves. It is no longer integrated into everyday life.

While science is a wonderful tool for opening one's imagination, I also find it limiting in the way that it makes people forget large parts of culture, namely values and traditions. Today we have scientific explanations which do not reinforce beliefs, but replace them. For example, we scientifically understand why seasons change, and so there is no sacredness to such events; goddesses who bring spring or autumn are nonexistent . While we gain progression in science, we also become sterile in myths. I wonder, as a species will we evolve to lose narrative as we know it?

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In Airtha Allegories I am working to reinstate nature-based myths into our postmodern everyday existence, disregarding validity in order to form a stronger connection with the Earth. It is those who feel no need for such a connection that I wish to inspire with my art work.