Dante's Heart
An Interview with Aaron Paquette
AP: Well, to pick one example, I have a piece in my home by artist Jim Logan.
The piece has been instrumental in my own healing simply for the simple fact
that it tells the truth. Logan's work explore life for First Nations people,
primarily on Reservations, and the piece I have shows the way kids deal with the
stress of difficult times. The fact that it was permitted to talk about these
things, to transform them into beauty, has elevated my perceptions of the old
hurts in my life and allowed them to heal.
DH: What do fantasy and folklore mean to you?
AP: The exact same thing: the expression of magic in the world. There's a
great saying: "I don't know what I don't know". As human beings, we like to think
we know a lot, but any scientist worth his lab coat will tell you that our entire
compendium of knowledge barely scratches the surface of the great mystery this
universe represents. We have a shorthand for describing these gaps between
what we know and what we can barely comprehend, and that's the dreamtime of
our mythic stories.
DH: Do you think that the information age, especially the digital information
age, has impacted our belief in magic or created a resistance to what isn’t
quantifiable?
AP: I think it's the opposite! We're creating a new mystery day by day. What
form it will eventually take, I don't know, but what I do know is that the story will
have to end well. This magic unseen way of communication has allowed us to
come together more than ever, to hear each other's stories and know each
other's lives. It has shrunk the world and distances so that someone on the
other side of the globe is truly my brother or sister. This is the greatest magic
we've discovered so far!
DH: How do you think the internet has affected the role of fantasy and
folklore today?
AP: The internet is, in the end, just a library and bulletin board at the
community centre but the scale is far more vast and that's what makes it so
strange and magical. We have the physical tools that make it function, but the
how and the why is a mystery for the majority of people. It's a magic tool What
shape that tool will end up being, we can't know, so perhaps future generations
will tell the tales that give it meaning and it's proper place. That there is an
overwhelming aspect to it all is undeniable but we deal with it as we do with every
big thing we can't explain. We tell stories.
DH: What do you think causes certain characters and symbols to be lodged in
the collective unconscious and mythology of so many different cultures? Ravens
are a recurring image in your work, and you’ve mentioned the Native American
myth of the Red Raven on your blog before. What is it about ravens, crows, and
other birds that makes them so significant in Norse mythology, Christian
mythology, even in indie-rock graphic design trends in the past couple years?
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AP: Well, to pick one example, I have a piece in my home by artist Jim Logan.
The piece has been instrumental in my own healing simply for the simple fact
that it tells the truth. Logan's work explore life for First Nations people,
primarily on Reservations, and the piece I have shows the way kids deal with the
stress of difficult times. The fact that it was permitted to talk about these
things, to transform them into beauty, has elevated my perceptions of the old
hurts in my life and allowed them to heal.
DH: What do fantasy and folklore mean to you?
AP: The exact same thing: the expression of magic in the world. There's a
great saying: "I don't know what I don't know". As human beings, we like to think
we know a lot, but any scientist worth his lab coat will tell you that our entire
compendium of knowledge barely scratches the surface of the great mystery this
universe represents. We have a shorthand for describing these gaps between
what we know and what we can barely comprehend, and that's the dreamtime of
our mythic stories.
DH: Do you think that the information age, especially the digital information
age, has impacted our belief in magic or created a resistance to what isn’t
quantifiable?
AP: I think it's the opposite! We're creating a new mystery day by day. What
form it will eventually take, I don't know, but what I do know is that the story will
have to end well. This magic unseen way of communication has allowed us to
come together more than ever, to hear each other's stories and know each
other's lives. It has shrunk the world and distances so that someone on the
other side of the globe is truly my brother or sister. This is the greatest magic
we've discovered so far!
DH: How do you think the internet has affected the role of fantasy and
folklore today?
AP: The internet is, in the end, just a library and bulletin board at the
community centre but the scale is far more vast and that's what makes it so
strange and magical. We have the physical tools that make it function, but the
how and the why is a mystery for the majority of people. It's a magic tool What
shape that tool will end up being, we can't know, so perhaps future generations
will tell the tales that give it meaning and it's proper place. That there is an
overwhelming aspect to it all is undeniable but we deal with it as we do with every
big thing we can't explain. We tell stories.
DH: What do you think causes certain characters and symbols to be lodged in
the collective unconscious and mythology of so many different cultures? Ravens
are a recurring image in your work, and you’ve mentioned the Native American
myth of the Red Raven on your blog before. What is it about ravens, crows, and
other birds that makes them so significant in Norse mythology, Christian
mythology, even in indie-rock graphic design trends in the past couple years?
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