THE ORACLE BONES
Medium
PaintingMaterial
CanvasDescription
Oil, copper/gold leaf, raw pigment, ink on canvas
Oracle bones were a means of divining information about the future. During the Shang Dynasty they were used by Kings to inquire about war, crops, marriages, deaths etc. The cleaned plastron of a turtle or oxen was heated to cracking. Philosophers then read the cracks to discern the answers to the questions asked. I find ancient means of communication fascinating, especially in todays world of media. The piece hangs like a scroll. I chose this method as in ancient texts such as the tora, it can be rolled. In researching oracle bones, the turtle plastrons, I found each so unique and beautiful in their living state - then transformed to tablets, that I have intermingled the living with the dead in the image.Try it!
