bacchanalian head at the eden project

 

A details of one of sculptor, Tim Shaw's, Bacchanal figures in a “The Rites of Dionysus” at the Eden Project in Cornwall. Tim's tableau is mesmerically fascinating and is described thus:

 

"These sculptures draw inspiration from the unsettling accounts of the Bacchanal – of women who roamed mountains in a trance and at the height of ecstasy seized an animal, tore it apart and ate it raw, to commune with the Gods’ flesh and blood. The Dionysus myths are perhaps the oldest, most fascinating and most powerful stories that link mankind with the grapevines. They not only give us an insight into the customs and beliefs of an ancient civilization, but also tell us something about the unchanging nature of the human condition. The scenes of divine possession, madness, sacrifice and death present in the orgiastic rites echo the mayhem of the breakdown of civil order when war rips apart a country."

 

www.edenproject.com/3499_243.htm

Client: clive hilton - personal project