Chthonic Beings – Mythological Assemblies for Multispecies Futures
This project envisions a future where the boundaries between human and non-human life converge, fostering a world of ecological interdependence and multispecies governance. Drawing from Indian mythology, animism, and posthumanism, Chthonic Beings – Mythological Assemblies for Multispecies Futures presents opportunities for alternative assemblies of mother goddesses, animals, birds, and plants, who challenge human hierarchies by foregrounding the agency of endangered flora and fauna. Chthonic Beingsutilize mythic storytelling, feminist ecologies, and multispecies kinship as conceptual tools to critique anthropocentric governance and advocate for planetary justice.
Chthonic Beings are hybrid deities and mythic entities inspired by endangered species, Yoginis, Yakshinis, and Kul Devis. They serve as ecological custodians, companions of endangered species, protectors, nurturers, and caregivers, tending to and nourishing the wilderness they inhabit. Portrayed as graceful, female beings with bird and animal visages, they act as intermediaries, translating the voices of the endangered and extinct while shaping alternative forms of ecological jurisprudence. They convene in assembly to negotiate the restoration of fragile ecologies, granting personhood to trees and endangered species and redefining borders according to natural landscapes rather than human-imposed divisions.
Chthonic Beings preside over fabulative multispecies assemblies where flora and fauna articulate their grievances and demands. These speculative gatherings reimagine interspecies participation in governance, allowing non-human actors to collectively negotiate laws, challenge human-imposed hierarchies, and formulate new treaties based on reciprocity rather than exploitation. In this speculative framework, territories are not controlled by nation-states but by the sovereign presence of rivers, forests, and migration pathways. Governance, in this alternative reality, is no longer the exclusive domain of Homo sapiens but an inclusive, interspecies negotiation rooted in reciprocity, respect, and planetary care.
Chthonic Beings are rooted in mythological foundations and draw from Yoginis, Yakshinis, and Kul Devis:
- Yoginis are powerful feminine deities often associated with the worship of the divine mother goddess. They are celestial and semi-divine beings with animal and human heads, multiple arms, and elaborate adornments, embodying feminine power, nature’s forces, wisdom, and transformation. Their mounts include animals, vegetation, and potent symbols such as pots, flames, and human corpses.
- Yakshinis are female nature spirits and guardians of sacred places, residing in forests, rivers, trees, and caves. As protectors of natural resources, they offer prosperity, wisdom, and abundance.
- Kul Devis are ancestral guardian goddesses of families, castes, or clans, passed down across generations. They protect lineages, guide them through challenges, and ensure their prosperity.
Lavishly adorned, these deities possess captivating, often paradoxical appearances—both terrifying and mesmerizing—offering life-enhancing energies of fertility, growth, longevity, and spiritual well-being.
Chthonic Beings underscore a polymorphic existence, where the boundaries between species dissolve. This boundary-blurring informs my work as I create fabulations—narratives where distinctions between humans, animals, and plants are fluid. Fabulation allows me to traverse the sacred and the profane, sustaining ambiguity and abstraction as tools for ecological and conceptual transformation. Chthonic Beings embody gender fluidity, akin to Ardhanarishvara—the composite deity of Shiva and Parvati—allowing them to shift between genders as needed. By merging animism, mythology, posthumanism, and feminism, I seek a deeper understanding of our relationship with ecology.