30 June 2016

I have been working on interactive displays to be placed outside the animals enclosures.
I handed over my work today as next week I move to Kuti and will no longer be working on these pieces.

Here is one piece that has been approved and been put forward to be carved out of wood.  The owl is linked with superstition in Malawi and seen as bad luck, and linked with sorcery.  Part of the reason for this is that the owl’s head turns so far around.  As a matter of fact, it can turn 180 degrees easily, and 270 at a push.  If the owl is already at 270 degrees, it can turn back the way it came continue to turn to 270 degrees the other side, making a fabulous 540 degree turn.  It’s easy to see why this is considered creeply, and therefore linked with superstitious ideas.

I decided to tackle it by producing a large owl with a movable head.  When I first suggested the head be mounted on a stick that feeds into its body, poor Gen became pale with worry, as it turns out she has seen plenty of owls heads on sticks, and this is not an image she wants to promote.  We tweaked the design, as below.

To my mind, this looks more like a griffin, and tweaks for the wooden model will include no ears, curly claws, thinner legs.  I think Howard did a great job, he used for clay the earth from a termite mound, and for some reason this becomes very clay-like. The final design will be in wood, as this is more durable - and it will be much bigger.

The ideas is that the guide asks one of the children to bring the owl out of his box, then explains that the owl has twice as many vertebra in his neck as a human, and this is why he can twist his head so far around.

We have requested a wooden owl be made now as a prototype, and if this goes well, Gen will put the funding in bid for all the activity ideas, including this one, and see if we can get the final model produced.

I am also designing an “Owl myths from around the world” board. The idea is that we challenge the negative associations around an owl in Malawi with very positive myths about owls in many different parts of the world. I am thinking of printing out a world map on hardwood, on which the locations of different countries is indicated, along with a one or two word summary of the myth e.g. protects women giving birth, brings a good harvest, protects small children, protects a house from being struck by lightening.  Their are some seriously loony myths and legends, one of my favourites comes from Jamaica, where apparently if you hear an owl hoot you have to ward off the evil by shouting “Salt and pepper on your mammy”!  Or in Germany, a charm against the terrible consequences of being bitten by a mad dog was to carry the heart and right foot of an Owl under the left armpit." (Encyclopedia of Superstitions). Whereas U.S.A it was believed if you hear an Owl-cry you must return the call, or else take off an item of clothing and put it on again inside-out - or if you were in Louisiana, get out of bed and turn your left show upside down to avert disaster.

Quotes taken from http://www.owlpages.com/owls/articles.php?a=63