Studio notes: Apocalypse Tapestry of Angers

This is what my current obsession is all about. This 14th Century tapestry is fascinating in its detail and workmanship as well as its wild and fanciful images. It shows the story of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation by Saint John the Divine and what is left of it is over one hundred meters long.

 It is also the starting point of a project which will take me the next year and a half to complete. If all goes well the work will be exhibited at the Circa Gallery in Johannesburg at the end of 2014. Working Title: Revelations - Stories or secrets disclosed, things that were not before realised

I have no intention of retelling the story of the St. John’s Apocalypse I am using  the melodramatic themes of the story as initiating sparks for themes and discussions in my own work. I have chosen to work very loosely with the ideas, patterns, feelings and inspirations that develop through this process.
 
Side note: When I was very little my grandparents gave me a Bible which, through a printing or binding error, does not contain the Book of Revelations. While I am not religious I have always found this somehow, vaguely significant. 

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The tapestry I am currently working on is based on the panel of the “Nicolas Bataille - the second trumpet and the shipwreck"

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Detail: "Second Trumpet" in process

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