Title

The Journey (No.1).

Author

Author not identified

Source

[Not applicable]

Type

About the work

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

The journey (no.1).

This print appears to depict the moment in human evolution when genders were first defined. According to Steiner, humans progressed though a series of ‘incarnations’, developing from ethereal beings into physical forms. Only when they developed solid bodies did the sexes separate. Through the use of the abstract void, Griffin has shown the spiritual plane from which the figures emerge. The naked bodies float through this void and divide, the males, lit by a green light, to the left; the females in an orange glow to the right. All are illuminated by a radiant yellow light from the centre of the image, possibly the divine spirit. The division into sexual beings brought about an awareness of the physical body, which has been symbolised by the fall in the Garden of Eden. Both the National Gallery of Australia and Hamilton Gallery purchased this work in the 1960s.

© Alisa Bunbury, 1998.