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Axis Mundi
Tree of Sorrow/Tree of Joy

Item date(s): 2010

Stephan Erasmus


Medium: Paper
Pages: unpaged
Size: 500 x 330 x 330mm
Binding: Clamshell/solander box
Language: Afrikaans
Edition: Unique

Type: Sculptural book
Theme(s): Tree of Life; Love poems

Place publication: (Johannesburg, RSA)
Publisher: The artist

Reference note:
The book entitled Axis Mundi: Tree of Sorrow/Tree of Joy draws on the cross-cultural symbol of what is termed the Tree of Life in Christian Mysticism. The tree is one of the many manifestations of this symbol and depicts a point where heaven, earth and the underworld meet, with the branches reaching into heaven, the trunk moving through earth and the roots digging deep into the underworld.

The Axis Mundi in this work is constructed from re-written Afrikaans love poems, and explores the various authors' emotions concerning the joys and sorrows of weaving through love.

This Tree as an illustration of the Axis Mundi “ becomes a central point, a place of atonement' where several opposite positions meet.

Exhibition notes:
Included on the exhibition 'Transgressions and Boundaries of the Page', exhibited at WOORDFEES 2010. Archive Room in JS Gericke Library, University of Stellenbosch, 1st - 6th March 2010; The Gallery of the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 15th April - 13th May 2010; the FADA Gallery, Faculty of Art Design and Architecture, University of Johannesburg, 12th - 30th July 2010.

Ref: DP/10078








Images courtesy Wessie van der Westhuizen NWU




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