MANDALAS / EARTH WHEELS

Animals in transitional bardo states; human-caused vs. natural death; ecological and spiritual reckoning. Mandala formations, different intention points are duplicated and/or placed in reverse view.

Ink on salvaged linen, hand-sewn modular fragments, mandala-like installations, frayed edges, sustainable materials rearrangeable modular format.

Barnum Black Leopards Mandala
2025
Recycled linen and other fibers, pen and ink
55″x72″
Barnum Black Leopards Mandala is the first in a collection of modular mandalas, each composed of individual segments intended for both formal contemplation and meditative engagement. The imagery draws from a 1938 Barnum advertising litho-print poster depicting animal trainer Terrell Jacobs with fourteen black panthers captured in Malaysia by Frank Buck, a historical artifact emblematic of colonial exploitation and the spectacle of dominance over nature.

This work recontextualizes those images, transforming them from symbols of subjugation into emblems of endurance and resistance. The central motif features prowling panthers with teal auras and entwined tails, signifying the will to survive and the persistence of vital energy despite captivity. Surrounding rings of red-auraed rampant panthers and olive leaping figures extend this meditation on survival through visual rhythm and chromatic tension.

The project’s material construction references the late 1970s cut-and-sew stuffed animal trend, a form associated with domestic craft and childhood play. By invoking this process, the work juxtaposes the familiarity of handmade construction with the historical trauma embedded in its imagery, thereby complicating notions of comfort, control, and empathy.

Hare Mandala
2025
32″x86″
Ink on scrap linen and cotton, thread, pins
Configurations of a Hare Mandala/ Earth Wheel
Individual pieces between 3×5 and 18×11
Creature library building for full installation of Earth Wheel (in progress)