Ann-Marie Tully: 'Kitsune' porcelain figure & divination bowl

'Kitsune' is the Japanese word for 'fox'. Japanese folklore associates kitsune with the ability to shape-shift into human form; assuming the roles of tricksters, guardians, elders, lovers, and wives. This work also references San iconography and shape-shifting cosmology in the form of a leaping jackal design on the front of the dress of the figure; a nod to the prevalence of jackal-headed figures (thought to be spirit-walking shaman in trance) in San rock art - An intriguing overlap with the mythic fox shape-shifters of Japanese folklore.

Ann-Marie Tully, Kitsune. Porcelain, cobalt. 280mm (H) x 125mm (W) x 125mm (D)

The magical dimensions of the Kitsune work, led to a further interest in divination bowls and sortilege - the casting and interpretation of lots, or sortes (sticks, stones, bones, etc.) in search of answers to life’s conundrums; and augury - the qualitative assessment of shapes and proximities, for example the examination of dismembered animal remains in search of supernatural portents. The Kitsune divination bowl below picks up on this ancient practice to imagine the process of becoming.