'A cave is the archetype of the maternal womb'
A place of initiation, contemplation and rebirth...caves feature in many myths and fairytales. I love drawing caves into my artwork...they give me a feeling that the dark space is a passage way taking you through the paper to somewhere beyond the image. Caves are sacred places where one can experience complete darkness, held in the womb of the earth. This picture is from the Aliwee Caves in the magical Burren West Coast of Ireland. Just moments after I took this picture the lights were turned off and we stood in the darkest dark I've ever experienced. Shapes appearing before me like a hallucination...my brain trying to register any kind of light.
The cave is thought to be closely related to the symbolic HEART, and is often a place where the self and ego unite
