Wie Oben, So Unten – As Above, So Below

Drawings with companion collages for a proposed future work to be installed at Schloss Machern.

Inspired by the pyramidal tomb on the grounds of Schloss Machern Piper Mavis designed a pyramid covered in mirror to float upon the lake. On a sunny day the mirrored pyramid would reflect its opposite onto the surface of the water as a visual metaphor of Hermes Trismegistus’ famous phrase-

As above, So below

As within, So without

As the universe, so the soul

A saying adopted by ancient Greeks, Egyptians and esoteric orders through to modern philosophers who use it as a poetic illustration of the atoms that make up the human body being the same as those that once made up stars.

The companion collages of the pyramidal structure are made from images of the family of the Graff of Lindenau for whom the tomb was originally to serve as their final resting place.