Loudoun Campus Art Gallery

Marilyn Banner
Soul Ladders
January 16 - February 10, 2006

The Soul Ladders are a group of ladder structures that function as metaphors for the realms of the spirit, and for the connectedness of the human to the otherworldly, to mystery and the sacred. One might say that the spirit world can be known by going inward, through dreams, meditation, and intuition. An artist can travel inward in these ways, using images and materials as a means of travel, of exploration, and of recovery.

The Soul Ladders are visceral, physical, and dark. They are made of many materials, images, and objects. They began with the idea of ladders made of skin coming up, or growing up, from an underworld. An interest in exploring “the dark side of the Feminine” had moved me to create many “skins” of latex, some backed with animal fur, some imbedded with bits of hair, bone, and shells. As they grew, they became more “alive.” Latex skins created the posts and hung from rungs. Bones were wrapped and bound, claws were hung, photos of raw meat, bits of hair, ancestors and guardians were attached. Objects from everyday life appeared: a delicate handkerchief, a used garden glove. And higher up, intuitively placed, emerged birds, wings, and bells.

Seen together the ladders form a forest of resonant images, reflecting realms of the human spirit, or soul, or psyche. We recognize them as mirrors of a world rarely acknowledged but deeply sensed, sometimes frightening, but always, when accepted, healing in its assurance of the connectedness of all living things.

-Marilyn Banner

Back to Aug. '05 - July '06 Exhibitions Calendar | Gallery Home Page