Anima Portrait #4, 2020

The psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung believed that there was a feminine beginning, or female part of the psychic setup, in the subconsciousness of every man. He gave it the name "Anima", which is "soul" in translation from Latin.

The anima is a personification of all feminine psychological qualities that a man possesses, such as haziness and vagueness of feelings and moods, emotional sensitivity, prophetic insights, susceptibility to the irrational and the capability for individual love. If a man does not try to relate with his anima, he gets what Jung called "a loss of soul", i.e., a lack of vitality, flexibility and humaneness.

In the process of working on creative projects, George Mayer tends to resort to a kind of meditation and tries to establish a connection with his anima, which is depicted as a nude female figure. The touch with one’s subconscious mind helps get rid of rigidity, rudeness, and one-sidedness and, eventually, bonds with the Unconscious.

The red circle on the works is a reference to the planet Mars. The ancient Greeks associated this celestial body with the God of war Ares, who was the personification of pure violence and cruelty. In Western astrology, the planet Mars is associated with the aggressive masculine element, the will and active sexuality. Mars manages wars, disasters, natural disasters, and accidents.
In the artwork the anima becomes positive, it is opposed to aggression, soothing it and helping to find inner harmony.

EXHIBITIONS

24-30 Sep 2021 | Fondazione Luciana Matalon, Milan, Italy | “Imagination Milan”

30 Aug 2021| Photography centre “PhotoPro”, Russia | winners of Moscow International Foto Awards 2021

31 Oct - 17 Nov 2021 | “Astroom”, Cvillinga 1, Yekaterinburg, Russia | “Anima”

17 Feb - 31 Mar 2022 | Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts, Russia | “The birth of Anima”