Barn Owl

I initially chose owls as my subject of research, later deciding to focus mainly on barn owls. Owls have always fascinated me, barn owls in particular, there is a certain silent beauty and mystery about them which I wanted to explore further. I researched a lot into the mythology and symbolism of owls,  I was surprised at the amount of cultures that believed and still believe that owls are connected with death. I decided to look further into this aspect, linking it with the mystery of the creatures. I created a few prints and wallpaper designs as well as some jewellery that I felt reflected the aspect of barn owls that I wanted to present. I mainly used photoshop, as well as fabric printing and polymer clay to create my pieces. I liked the idea of the repetition and mirrored images representing the mysterious aspect, I also chose to portray the owls mainly using skulls to represent death but with roses, a symbol of beauty, in the eye socket, combining the aspects of beauty and death that barn owls are seen to connote. The jewellery was a similar approach, depicting the beauty of barn owls.