Getting on my Goatigan

Despite goats’ reputation in Christian culture for their pagan and Satanic associations, I’ve always admired their hardy resourcefulness and agility.

You will appreciate those qualities if you’ve ever seen a goat calmly balancing sideways on a sheer Atlantic cliff face in high winds. I also enjoy their propensity for rude wild chaos and refusal to be totally tamed. They’re far better crack than sheep.

Although human/goat hybrids are often male in mythology – the fauns and satyrs of Greek and Roman myth – goat-woman stories exist in a number of cultures. There are the Scottish Glaistig and the Greek Goat Girl, which have similarities to the Celtic Selkies and Mermaids. These folk-tales frequently revolve around female shape shifting human/animals being coerced into relationships with humans by someone stealing and hiding their skin.

I made these pieces as self portraits, evoking my connections with the physical, uncivilised self we all possess.