Animarum

Animarum

The Story Behind the Sculpture

Animarum is a ceramic sculpture that explores the social and architectural destruction that followed the Protestant Reformation.

During the Reformation, religious reform attacked monasteries, images and sculptures of saints, and other expressions of religious belief that had developed throughout Europe.

These attacks broke down the social structures that surrounded many religious institutions and destroyed the art of the common people.

The pillaging that followed helped create the macabre association with the word gothic we have today.

Animarum imagines the moment that a spirit of a church rescues the church's relic and takes flight from a hoard of pillagers about to break through the doors.

This piece is an exploration of linguistics, architecture, history, and the personalization of spiritual belief.

Note: Animarum is the possessive plural of anima, which is Latin for soul, spirit, or life. Research and inspiration primarily from Nick Groom's "The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction".