Wednesday, June 29, 2011

How should I present god in Napa?

Sometime during 1999, before my wine/vineyard projects, I started Africa's Undiscovered Myths Project. I traveled to the most remote tribes in Africa to interview the elders, shamans, chiefs, witch doctors and storytellers about their myths and archetypal dreams. Anthropologists tell me that I am the only person to record these oral stories for all but one of the tribes I studied. (And the elders of that single tribe tell me they had never heard the stories that were published.)

From those detailed oral stories, I create photo illustrations. In March of 2012, the Mumm Gallery in Napa Valley will feature these illustrations as a show.

So I need your help.

The illustration below is of god as described to me by the Mursi tribe elders. (The Mursi tribe is one of Ethopia's Omo River area tribes.)

What is the best way to present these illustrations–which will be about 2X3 feet in size?
1) Should I include small photographs of tribal people and village life below each illustration? See the example and cropped detail below.
2) Should I have the text of the story right on the image or on a separate title sheet next to the illustration?

The above illustration has no small photos or writing–except for the tiny title at the bottom.
The above illustration has both small village photos and writing. While the text is too small to see here, in the 2X3 foot gallery-sized version it will be visible but not dominant.
The above image is a detail of the small village photos at the bottom of the main illustration.

Obviously, any suggestions on how to present these illustrations would be greatly appreciated.