Anima Mundi

he original artists’ book Anima Mundi (“Soul of the World”) is a five metre long, graphite drawing on paper, presented as an A5 concertina book and slipcase. This is a beautifully printed and bound limited edition book and slipcase, limited to only 200 copies each signed and numbered by the artist. Tim worked on Anima Mundi for over two years and as such the drawing is rich in both imagery and emotion. The book’s title Anima Mundi comes from the Latin for “Soul of the World” and is according to several thought systems, an intrinsic connection between all living things on the planet; an energy which relates to our world in much the same way as the soul is connected to the human body.

This idea originated with the Greek Philosopher Plato but also relates to ideas found in Animism which predates this and which held that spirits exist in everything in nature such as other animals, plants, rocks, rivers, thunder, even shadows.

Anima Mundi explores Myth in its wider sense, anachronistically bringing together icons and motifs from different world mythologies to create an enigmatic open-ended narrative. The pages of the concertina can be (re)combined with each other; evading any finite ending and layering on mystery. The tactile experience of this work is a pleasure as the viewer is given ownership of how their personal narrative unfolds. Dripping in sensuality and symbolism, Lane’s beautiful draftsmanship invites us into a world where nothing is set in stone and everything has a duality of meaning. As severed heads and skeletal frames are juxtaposed with fertile plants and flowers, questions emerge about: chaos, sexuality, death and decay, it is a depiction of a fantasy world in which the imaginable is given a darkly illustrative platform. Here the outer natural world and inner human experience fuse, to reveal an understanding and acceptance of the Cycle of Life that sees the powerful creative force that exists even in destruction.