St George the Dragon
(charcoal, graphite, and red card stock on paper, 38” x 28” original)
How does one bring the shadow into the light? In West Africa, the Fon worship a spirit named Ogun. He is a god of iron that is also associated with struggle and warfare. His mythos is full of stories of the people calling on him to help them in times of struggle, only to find him a nuisance in the times of peace. The Fon are telling us that there are times that you need to fight but you cannot fight all of the time.
During the transatlantic slave trade, Ogun was syncretized with the Catholic St. George. And for that reason, when conceptualizing this piece, I leaned heavily on the St. George and the dragon motif. However, it seemed odd to depict Ogun slaying a prototypical dragon/devil. Because for the Fon of West Africa, there are no good or bad spirits, only forces of nature. And nature seeks only to create balance. My Ogun encompasses both St. George and the dragon. He is both the shadow and the light.