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The Shifting Ecology of Self
series by Amanda Matthews
Formerly known as Messengers, this series is an inquiry into sculptural "third entities," expressing rupture, fragment, and trauma in bodies that become metaphorical ecotones: fertile spaces between worlds. They emerge, merge, and dissolve as thresholds, inviting us to explore the terrain of becoming rather than being. Shapeshifters that represent fluidity and dynamism are visually illuminated through cultural and anthropological lenses.
From the detritus of time, the forest is reprised as mythic bodies.
Through newfound kin, growth unfolds from deep within a storied thread, roots of connection
long thought dead.
Similarly, my public monuments, such as The Girl Puzzle in NYC and the KY COVID Memorial, reclaim wounded lives by exposing fragmented faces and damaged bodies in communal spaces.
Artist Statement:
My work investigates the interplay of identity and representation in relation to power, gender, and ecology. It makes space for voices and stories that have been persistently silenced, inviting the public to witness, reflect, and participate in the alchemy of shared memory and collective healing. Rooted in ecofeminism, process philosophy, and critical theory, my work serves as a liminal bridge—guiding viewers from weighted histories of suffering and marginalization to unfolding, transformational narratives.
We are ancestor and descendant, amoeba and mammoth, hawk and mouse, forest and wind, chaos and pattern, particle and wave. We are all born from the same stars, sculpted from the same source, and contain the same life.
Please follow Amanda's work in real-time here:
Thuja:
Tree of Life,
Dryad
Inspired by a beautiful section of cedar resembling a human leg and partial torso, Thuja was born. Latin for “tree of life,” Thuja’s form is intersex and seeks to trouble the naturalized acceptance of a gender binary, better reflected as a spectrum.
In the heart of Eastern Mysticism, Yin and Yang are forces that form everything that exist. Not as two warring halves, but as a singular, flowing river of complementary forces that give birth to all existence. Yin is the primordial spirit from which life sprang, the feminine—the soul and inspiration behind all action. And yang is the action, the fire for life, the masculine. If Yin is breath, then yang is the act of breathing—each dependent on the other to complete the circle or cycle. Like the ebb and flow of the ocean tide, Yin and Yang are not separate but inseparable, with each containing a seed of the other.
The true nature of the cosmos is one of an endless spectrum. Thuja embodies the sacred meeting place of these eternal forces, a living testament to the divine, fluid interplay of Yin and Yang. They are the harmony and mystery, the sacred paradox where the dance of creation is made manifest in an exquisite form.
Rhiza:
Honeysuckle Root Dryad, Nubian
Inspired by a large honeysuckle root, Rhiza's name is a derivative of rhizome or root. Nubians are sometimes referred to as the "Root" of civilization because they were a very early agrarian society, rather than nomadic.
Rhiza is a visceral force, embodying the will to procreate, adapt, and survive. She embraces the universe's mystical power, harnessing its mysteries and molding them into creative expression through aboriginal song, dance, painting, and sculpture. Rhiza creates a sense of place by deriving life from the soil and cultivating the land. She is a leader who lives in sync with the earth's rhythm, giving of herself without reservation to enrich the lives of her descendants. Death holds no dominion over her, for she perceives the cycle of rebirth in every facet of nature, understanding that each end is merely a prelude to a new beginning.
Scabbard
Scabbard emerged from the heart of a tree, inspired by a gnarled burl that bore the tender shape of a vulva. Her namesake, scabbard, is a sheath for a warrior's blade or gladius, often associated with a man as its owner. Historically part of a soldier's uniform, they were typically made of leather and metal, with the most prized described as gilded bronze, such as this.
This association is deepened by linguistic history. The classical Latin word vāgīna meant scabbard before it took on its modern anatomical meaning during the medieval era.
This semantic shift ironically reinforces the earlier, masculine-centric association. Scabbard, therefore, is a creature of deep metaphor, a fragment dryad and powerful symbol of historical subjugation. Her name holds the memory of a weapon of war, referencing a history where the feminine is defined by what it contains for the masculine.
She is a reminder that the meaning of words can shift and change over time, leaving behind powerful echoes of their past.
Lilith
Lilith embodies the clash of two mighty forces: reason and religious oppression.
Lilith represents a foundational divide regarding the feminine's role in the universe, resolutely championing equality and rebelling against any doctrine that mandates submission.
An enduring figure of folklore, Lilith is powerful and wise, cast as both goddess and demon, and celebrated by many as history's first feminist.
She chose freedom and independence over a dominating companion and theology.
Living among nature, she was revered as integral, representing the divine feminine. For Lilith, Hell is manifest by unchecked power in the hands of the misguided.
Katsina:
The Sacred Dancer
Katsina is a reference to Native American dolls, carved by the Hopi, as representatives of the Katsinam, the spirit messengers of the universe. They are given to girls in infancy to help them learn about their responsibilities as women in the community. Katsina beckons the power and beauty of nature in female form, looks to the sky for her inspiration, and needs no intermediary to express her wisdom, intellect, grace, and gifts. She is the sacred dancer.
She hears and understands the music of the Universe and dances in rhythm with the elements while moving throughout time and existence. She moves with reason and enlightenment to the songs of all ancient religions, while knowing that she and the stars and the trees are all sculpted from the same source and contain the same life.
Katsina was born from a small stick that appeared to be dancing, found while walking with my two small daughters along a riverbed in Kentucky.
Pan
Inspired by a section of horned, burl oak, Pan is the Greek god of shepherds and flocks, mountains, hunting, and rustic music. Depicted with hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, and the upper body and hands of a man, he resembes a faun. The god Pan is portrayed as the personification of the entire cosmos, embodying both the lower animal nature as well as the higher spiritual nature of humanity.
Pan's dual nature as both divine and animal plays upon the tenuous balance between chaos and harmony, the primal and the cultured. Pan was considered responsible for causing individual, possession-like disruptions of the psyche, or panolepsy, a euphoric alteration of consciousness sometimes referred to as divine mania. The word panic itself is attributed to Pan for many reasons. In addition, Pan was later known for his music, which was capable of arousing inspiration, sexuality, or even panic itself, depending upon the god's intentions.
Amalthea
Amalthea, whose name means "tender goddess," is revered as the foster mother of the infant Zeus. Often depicted as a goat or a hybrid goat-woman, she nourished the future king of the gods.
When Zeus was a baby, a rambunctious moment led him to accidentally break off one of Amalthea's horns, which was transformed into the fabled Cornucopia, or "Horn of Plenty." It was imbued with the magical power to provide its owner with anything they desired.
After Amalthea's death, Zeus honored her memory by fashioning the legendary Aegis, his formidable shield, from her hide. As a final tribute, he placed her likeness among the stars, creating the constellation Capra, meaning "she-goat," to immortalize her nurturing spirit.
Relic
Relic is a horse-spirit dryad, mother and child, formed of jawbones and ancient driftwood, and cast in bronze. Like a paleontological figure unearthed from a fossil bed, it carries the impression of a creature long gone. Relic is a testament to maternal sacrifice. The anguish of loss is etched onto the soul of the spirit, persisting long after the physical form has faded and become part of the ancestral lineage.
Ptelea:
Elm Tree Hamadryad
Hamadryads are born inextricably bound to a single tree. Some hold that they are its living soul, unlike the dryad, who merely dwells within. When the tree falls, so too does its hamadryad; thus, the wrath of dryads and gods pursues those who injure these sacred forms.
THE HAMADRYADES were eight Dryad daughters of the forest-spirit Oxylos ("Of the Forest") and the nymph Hamadryas ("One With Tree") of Mount Oita (Oeta) in northern Greece.
The vast forest behind my childhood home offered communion, sharing deep connections through cycles of growth and decay. Harmony revealed wisdom among these ancient beings. Our sacred ancestors, trees appear to have lived on earth for approximately 360 million years, while humans have existed here roughly 300,000 years to our knowledge. Therefore, humans represent less than a minute in the 24-hour day that is the life of trees.
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