‘Ignis Avis Lineae’

(‘Lines of the Fire Bird’)

A dialogue between image and word set within history and present perceptions.

Divine

I do not gaze, I reach

Piercing societal archetypal bleach

Breaching suppression, deterioration of type

Your temples, your stone, your tyrannical might

Emergence, Kundalini rising

I am tribe, not hidden by creativity within

Pre-existing patterns, similar sin

Trauma elongating in permanence

Now provocations power to ignite,in vacuums under living skin

Elegance in form, beauties face

To overwhelm, blinding fears and scorn

In images of dreams, in fairytales

I hear your screams, your conversation within

I am sun, I am power, I am love

I am art, I am poetry, I am evolution

I am intellect, I am mother, I am life

I overcome. I am sublime, the divine

I am the feminine.

Thomas Paul 8.3.23

In her new series, ‘Ignis Avis Linea’, Eisler continues in her pursuit to define various facets of the ‘Sublime Feminine’, a consistent exploration of the artist into sensuality and the female gaze. Through her lense and bodies of work, the Sublime Feminine has been a constant protagonist in Eisler’s work, from the American West to Mexico, Iceland to Italy and now the West Country of England. 

Eisler takes the ‘Sublime Feminine’ one step further in this collaborative project with the Poet, Thomas Paul and Creative Director, Cavan Mahony to explore the themes of the female form and her beauty and power. The muse Stephanie Bolam, with a full tattoo bodysuit of geometric patterns, is photographed by Maryam in front of historic Parnham House in Dorset. 

In one image Stephanie appears like the phoenix rising from the historical ashes of the burning of societal archetypes, those of Greek mythology, Roman hierarchy and the British class system. This can be metaphorically tied to the tragic Parnham fire and its current rebirth as a house for all. 

‘Lines of formality I laugh at thee

Parades of pomegranate, instillations to divide or protect

To contemplate on your walls of culpability

Your fruitless endeavours, moulded me’

  Thomas Paul

‘Ignis Avis Lineae’ is a study in the deconstruction of archetypal images and expectations of both the setting, a stately manor home, and the muse, fully dressed in her permanent warrior like body armor and as an art form herself.

“It’s a powerful thing to put out into the world and at the same time it’s also scary. I am a walking piece of art. I had to learn to become more powerful and resilient to handle people’s reactions. I chose the responsibility to do this. The sensation of being tattooed is like lines of fire.”

Stephanie Bolam

A 16th century property, Parnham House was all but destroyed by a fire in 2017. James and Sophie Perkins have purchased Parham House and are painstakingly restoring the manor to its original glory. Parnham House will be renewed and restored, breathing new life into Dorset with a restaurant and accomodation for people to experience the property. 

Eisler photographs the muse through her female gaze and explores the renaissance of female power and beauty against the back-drop of the rebirth of one of the great houses in the West Country. 

Suppress

The immersive displacement of form

Monument of power I circumvent

Marble fists and narration by lifeless eyes of history

The absurdity of admiration, of dictorial prescriptions

I’ll not bow to thee or stoop, though I coil

The movement is instinctive

Mystery’s warmth to contemplate

No Serpents fate, free air I breathe

My choice, my decadence, my right.

thomas Paul 12.4.23

Lake

Plumes, imposing, how they collect to deaden

Entitled stillness, defined, silence ensues

But not the end, these rigidities in patterns,now broken and reborn

Tis the emergence of the feminine, a fortitude evoked in this instinct of form

Unto glistening pearls of uniformity and trickle down eyes blue, calm ensues

And the imposing eye it fades, fades the will of the bloodless

For the glory of lines become.

Look at her. 

I’m done.

thomas Paul 21.4.23