THE ERLKING - ALTAR FOR SHIVA

The series of photographs titled The Erlking - Altar for Shiva is an archetypical interpretation of Death which is here correlated to the Hindu god Shiva and his consort Kali. Theirs is the cosmic dance where destruction precedes rebirth.

According to Vedic mythology our time is the age of Kali Yuga when dissention, war and greed rule the world. This metaphysical interpretation of Goethe’s poem aside, The Erlking - Altar for Shiva artistically explores the destructive aspects of the patriarchy as it espresses itself in warfare, colonialism, and the rape of nature. The conceptual premise is realized by hanging portraits of members of the Congolese Batwa tribe and of modern young men next to photographs of American Civil War generals and seductively beautiful images of battlefields. Images from the annual celebration of Shiva in Benares and a dancer representing the goddess Kali are completing the series.

— Bettina WitteVeen