Tanatos Masks
Masks in card/plaster and clay (porcelain, stoneware, and terracotta) inspired by a medieval map of Thanet, Thunor's Pit (an ancient, possibly neolithic earthwork referenced as swallowing the evil protagonist Thunor in the late seventh century Deer Run legend), and the mythical properties of Thanet earth. Archbishop Isidore of Seville, writing in the early seventh century, wrote that Thanet, "an island of the ocean separated from Britain by a narrow channel...(was) called Tanatos from the death of serpents; for while it has none of its own, soil taken from it to any place whatsoever kills snakes there."
Thunor pit / heart of island mask
Submerging island mask
Mound mask
Pit mask
Ancient sites mask
Thanet earth mask (stoneware)
Thunor's pit mouth mask
Thanet earth mask (terracotta)
Pit face - open
Pit face - sealed
Medieval map of the Isle of Thanet
Submerging island - glazed porcelain
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