Anima Mundi - Aster & El Arkin (April 2019) 8’x30’ on recycled billboard panels

We created the mural in a week full of laughs, coffee, dancing, hacky-sack, staring at the mural, and endless painting. Grateful to Hummingbird Wholesale for the snacks and opportunity as well as Arkin Tilt Architects for the sweet warehouse space design.

Anima Mundi, the title of the painting, is about the world soul that intrinsically connects every living and non living thing on our planet. The mural’s central theme is symbiosis, showing the foundation and integration of systems necessary for growth. The mural is broken into thirds: The Sky, representing the passage of time; the Land, representing distance and cultivation; and the Earth, a layered structure that withholds it all. The piece emanates from where the land meets the sun, a focal point on the horizon, a source of inspiration. The sun is decorated in mandala-style, patterned with concentric forms that emphasize the beauty and complexity of our natural world. The trilium flower at the center represents rebirth, as well as the number 3.  The cross-section at the front of the piece describes the otherwise hidden layers that combine to form a solid infrastructure for growth. 

We dedicate this piece to the Perrin sisters: our grandmother Judy, and her sisters Anne and Jennifer. All were land conservationists and lovers of wildflowers; we also want to pay homage and sit in honor to the indigenous groups who called Eugene home for time immemorial before settler arrival: the Winefelly, Chafan, Chelamela, and Kalapuya. All whose land want unrightfully stolen. May Anima Mundi be a call for right relations with our ancestors and more than human kin, and the living landscape which supports all beings.