Elsa and Beauty in the Beast
Monday 30 April to Monday 14 May 2012
Anna Tham
Joy Adamson’s celebrated book Born Free described George
Adamson’s and her relationship with Elsa the lioness, and it had a
profound impact on the public back in the early sixties when it was
first published. It was one of the very first popular accounts of a
deep and reciprocal relationship between humans and an animal from
the wild – indeed one of the most archetypal of wild animals.
The Elsa Conservation Trust and The George Adamson Wildlife
Preservation Trust continues that story today within both the
"civilized world" and those communities living in close proximity
to these wild animals, working to help create a wider and more
lived consciousness of the nature and importance of the potent and
fertile relationship that exists between humanity and the animal
kingdom.
Anna Tham’s jewellery identifies with this mutually empowering
relationship between animals and humans. Placing these images of
living, sentient and purposive animals around the neck, at our most
primal vulnerability, we both honour and celebrate them in
co-existence and co-communication. Their presence engages us in the
possibility of awakening and enhancing our relationship with animal
nature, both theirs and ours. They open us up to our experience of
the magical in the mundane, they connect us to our inner being,
they move us and open our hearts. The imagery carries a grandeur,
richness and power that is both empowering and transforming. They
celebrate both the wearer and the animal kingdom, and unite us in
our respective inner lives and struggles within our common home on
this beautiful planet.