Saturday, March 31, 2007

The Importance of Allegory

As an Icelander story telling, and the art of allegory is very much part of my life. As a family we talk of our ancestors triupths, they are heroic, and allegoric: my fore mother's bearing a child in Canada during the 11th century, my forefather killing his first man at 7 over a lost game of soccer. All these stories are captivating but what is most compelling is that they have all been proven to be fundamentally true. The Icelandic Sagas, have all been proven true with archeology and science(DNA).

I went to the Frick Collection today, and saw this painting. It was incredibly moving, and allegorical.

19151033


Gerard David
(active c. 1460 - 1523)
The Deposition, c. 1510-1515
oil on linen (mounted on mahogany panel)
56 1/8 in. x 44 1/4 in. (142.56 cm x 112.4 cm)
Henry Clay Frick Bequest.
Accession number: 1915.1.33

You see mary magedaline bereft, and all the disipaples, you also see the dark clouds that were supposed to represent the darkness that fell over the earth when Jesus passed. This story, of Jesus and his death, and the people around him most have happened, I am a firm believer in the truth of 'stories' why then do we as humans attach such importance to stories and allegory. Why? And why do they hold so much truth?

Every creation myth, has been proven with DNA science, to have a profound if not direct truth. For instance some of the plains Indians, believed in a great migration from a mystical land, it has been later proved that America's native did in fact migrate from central Asia.

It is really fascinating, humans and our stories.