Inge Maria Maier
Urðr, Verðandi, Skuld
Installation
Metal, rendered image
150 x 100 cm
Destiny goddesses, Norse mythology, Misrepresentation
Based on her observation that Norse mythology has been reduced to Viking stereotypes of barbarism and savageness, Maier’s installation explores and gives space to the Norse poetic, feminine and philosophical aspects instead. She reflects on the idea of fate within the mythology, as something that is being controlled and created by weaving goddesses, known as the Norns.
By the roots of Yggdrasil, the great ash tree in the centre of the world, Urd, Verdandi and Skuld spin the destinies of every human and God, thereby making them more powerful than almost any other creature in mythology. The two reliefs in the installation, casted in metal as a tribute to the leftovers of original viking art, are the artists visual interpretation of the story told in the Edda poems. Digitally spun thread is connecting the metal objects and weaving the historic myth into a present context where female powers are allowed to outshine heroic battlefield tales.
