In the atavist CD Rowena Shepherd
has had the chance to bring together her academic interest in
religious and mythological symbolism and tarot cards, and her
training in the Western mystery tradition, in particular her knowledge
of the qabala.
Rowena first started studying the imagery on tarot cards at the
Courtauld Institute of Art in London, where she took two degrees
in Art history. She has continued to pursue her interest in world
religious and mythological symbolism, and has just edited the
Thames and Hudson dictionary of symbols "1000 Symbols"
(2002).
However, the ground breaking and startling imagery of Sally Annett's
deck inspired her to take her interest further, in particular
using her training in the Western mystery tradition, she has assessed
the imagery in terms of the qabala, and has found a way of using
this deck to train intuitive side of the mind, not only to produce
better readings readings, but also so that it can act as
a doorway through to the spiritual realms.
The quabala section would also prove extremely useful to any student
training in the western mystery tradition as the flexibility of
the CD format brings the four dimensional aspects of the quabala
to life.
" Sally's work has hung
in collections and exhibitions in Hong Kong, Paris, Germany and
the States along side that of both contemporary artists and great
masters like Picasso, Rembrandt, Palmer and Durer. It has even
replaced the gap left when transport and humidity prevented the
safe arrival
of the Ravenna Murals for the 'We Three Kings' exhibition in 1995
being contraversial helps too. Ironically ,the same three paintings
had been the centre of a censorship row. They were removed from
a solo show in Oxford, having been labelled 'too power ful and
disturbing', Sally's work remains a personal, visual interpretation
of the world and its forces...she creates work around archetypes
in her search for the roots of language. Hence the deliberate
use of symbols with obvious connotations yet multi-layered interpretations.
Her distinctive work has been described by critics as visionary.
To say that Sally's work has taken the art world by storm would
be selling her short."Ian Kuah. Stratos magazine.USA 1998.
"Sally Annett's paintings
combine the subconscious and underlying truths of human emotions,
with compositional trickery, post-modern painterlyness and multi-layered
imagery all bound together through her creative process. "Stephen
Snoddy ,the Director of Milton Keynes Gallery.