Joseph A. Davis, III Seeing the Elephant: Using a Comparative Iconographic System in a Narrative-Based Visual Art        Countless religions through the ages have used an iconographic fusion of human and animal form to illustrate certain aspects of a deity or mythical/historic figure. The Egyptian jackal headed god of embalming, Anubis, and the Navaho shape shifting spirits, Chindis, are two examples of a phenomenon that can be found all over the world. Many of these examples have origins in religions derived from the same source. Yet all harken back to man's connection with and origins from Nature. In American frontier days, early settlers who became unnerved or deranged by the hardships in the West or overwhelmed by the vastness of the plains and mountains are said to have "seen the elephant." The phrase is a metaphor for experiencing something so overpowering that it baffled the senses.        In religious iconography, the elephant has been both glorified as a symbol of benevolent power and demonized as a symbol of uncontrollable corruption. The elephant has been used as a symbol in major belief systems such as Hinduism, Buddhism and early Judaism. The symbol of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha (or Ganesh) that I use in my art represents an amalgam of entities and ideas.        I will present artwork, both traditional and digital, which depict concepts analogous to those in writings such as Joseph Campbell's "The Masks of God" and others. Return to Session XVIII BB Program