Mala Mayo
Thresholds
Mala Mayo ha cominciato a fotografare nel 1969 ed ha frequentato il laboratorio fotografico di Auckland ad Elam 1972. Mala non ha esposto le sue opere dal 1975, ma ha perseguito il suo vocazione di ballerina, genitore e kinesiterapista ed inoltre ha studiato tarocchi e astrologia dal 1981. Il suo interesse per le metafore e gli archetipi influenza il suo lavoro. Questa è la sua prima esplorazione nel mondo della fotografia digitale. Le immagini provengono da un insieme di 12 scatti fatti nel Britomart Transport Centre al centro di Auckland Nuova Zelanda.
Mala Mayo began photographing in 1969 and attended Auckland Photo Workshop in Elam 1972. Mala has not exhibited since 1975, but has pursued her vocation as a dancer, parent and kiniesiologist, and also studied tarot and astrology since 1981. Her interest in metaphors and archetypes informs her work. This is her first exploration using digital photography.
These photographic images are from a set of 12 taken in Britomart Transport Centre in downtown Auckland New Zealand.
Literatarot
XVII - Stelle/Stars
Manon de Sources by Marcel Pagnol
Inspiration – Manon des Sources
Film 1952 then Novel by Marcel Pagnol 1962 and Film by Claude Berri 1986
After the treachery of the neighbours, who by blocking a spring turned Manon’s family land into a wasteland; leading to the death of her father Jean de Florette and the loss of her family home and land (The tower), Manon spends several healing years in the hills as a goatherd.
On finding out that the people of the village had known about the spring and done nothing, her fury is aroused and she seeks retribution by secretly blocking the spring feeding the village water supply and fountain.
Recognising their ills are connected to the wrong done to Manon and her family, villagers ask her to pardon them by joining a procession through the drought stricken fields and praying with them for the return of the water. They place in her their hope for a miracle. Manon, at first reluctant, agrees, then secretly unblocks the spring with the help of a young man, allowing the water to return.
This story has resonances with myths of the Well Maidens and the Holy Grail. It is also an important lesson for our time, that when nature is exploited everyone suffers. Even the green New Zealand pastures shown here can become a wasteland unless we individually and collectively learn to act in accord with nature and the heavens.
The card
It is as if Manon, playing her father’s harmonica, is evoking the water and the Grail.
Both the natural spring and the village fountain are also represented.
Manon stands protected in the centre of two triangles. The upward pointing one of
Goats (Earth, Capricorn, Wisdom, Conservation ) and Star (The Heavens, Aquarius, Illumination, Universal principles) and the downward pointing one of the Goats to the Water and Grail ( Life giving, Feeling, Love, The Unconcious)
The goats in the story are fitting companions for the Star Maiden, with their associations with both the heights of the Mountain goat and depths of the Mer goat The goat on the right seems to embody both the qualities of earth and star.
Background
Manon’s mother was an opera star . The name Manon reflects this. The 1731 novel L’ historie du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by Antoine Francois Prevost (the Abbe Prevost) is referenced in many works of literature, film, ballet and opera. Three of these opera are: Manon Lescaut by Daniel Auber 1856, Manon by Massenet 1884 and Manon Lescaut by Pucinni 1893.
At the end of the Prevost story, Manon, after wandering exhausted on a vast plain dies in the arms of her lover, from exposure and dehydration.
Note: Please make sure that the reference to the Claude Berri Film stays in, as the figure of Manon is sketched from a scene in this film – though she is stylized and changed in appearance. (The scene is also described in the Pagnol novel)
