Insider

June 7, 2022

Cracking Art Wild Goose: between the playful character and the sacred aspiration.

Nowadays, the goose is regarded as one of the most beloved domestic animals due to its endearing appearance and gentle nature. Still, not every one knows that its wild counterpart has played a cardinal role in the tradition of several civilizations, where its figure has even assumed mythical connotations.

For centuries the goose has been worshipped as a symbol of life, rebirth and fertility – a guardian of humankind and a messenger of the Gods.

According to the Ancient Egyptians, a goose generated the cosmic egg that gave birth to the Sun God Ra, theFather of Creation.

Even the Greeks held it in high regard, and through mythological tales, we learn that the God of Love – Eros -rode a flying goose as transportation.

These animals were sacred to the Goddess Juno in the ancient Rome and grazed freely on the Capitoline Hill.According to the legend, when the Gallic army was besieging the city, the Romans discovered their imminent arrival thanks to a flock of geese. A story with such epic outlines that it can compete with the She-Wolf’s one.

For the Celtic populations, the palmiped played the role of afterlife messenger. In many folk tales, it is often associated with the fairies, magical and ancestral being representative of the feminine archetype. As such, the goose watched over the travellers and escorted them on their journey.

This almost cathartic pilgrimage is also exemplified in the “Game of the Goose” (Snakes and Ladders), which in its earliest editions designated the “Goose’s Garden” as the ultimate destination for the pawns, a symbolic place of beatitude.

Konrad Lorenz demonstrated that thanks to a phenomenon called “imprinting”, goslings instinctively follow the first living being they see. Likewise, the Cracking Geese trigger functional imprinting to art to all who visit the installations in which they are involved, donating the space a vibrant energy.

Melissa Camilli