During the rise of Christianity, paganism was seen as evil and sinful by some people. Due to this, the positive symbolisms of the Pagans were twisted to become fearful, bad omens. The Hare became associated with madness and ill-omens. This design displays the physical symptoms of Myxomatosis, also known as mad rabbit disease.

 

Overall Project: The Hare is an animal native to many parts of the globe, and is important to many different collections of peoples, from pagans to the ancient Egyptians. The hare not only has many different stories, but also many common themes within its symbolisms, such as its link with the moon. This makes it a very transformative creature symbolism wise. To show this transformative element I created 6 small hares in different stages of flight, each representing a different symbolism. Each figure had a token of its symbolism/story either represented in cast bronze or painted gold. These pieces were in a circle in a gallery setting to give the impression of one beast running in a circle, transforming as it goes. These pieces were centered around a large ‘Luna Hare’ which is a Hare taking the form of the moon. There is an element of the moon in nearly every symbolism when speaking of the hare, including that of the Celts, Pagans and Ancient Chinese. I also produced two medium sized sculptures to represent ‘The Mad Hare’ and the ‘Jackalope’.