The Anima Series

I have titled my life’s work the Anima Series. Anima is a Latin term meaning ‘breath’ or ‘soul’ and is described as the inner part of the personality as opposed to the outer, or persona. At a deeper level it represents the feminine aspect of the male psyche and it is this meaning that best describes my work as an artist.

Throughout much of my adult life I have related better to women and feminine culture than I have to my own gender. This is not intended as a criticism, but simply a statement of fact about my own nature. As an artist I have sought to give expression to this by various means. In this sense the Anima Series is a very complex body of work that has meaning on a variety of levels.

Although a photographic artist by trade, my work entails more than just photographic images. The Anima Series includes drawings, poetry, prose, various writings (both fictional and theoretical), videography, computer graphics and traditional photography. It is a body of work that has been in progress for twenty-five years and throughout that time has been influenced by a variety of sources.

Foremost amongst these sources has been the Hermetic tradition, feminism and philosophy. Using esoteric symbols, I have attempted to portray something of myself and the women with whom I have collaborated. In many cases, these collaborations have spanned years of work and have provided me a rare and privileged work relationship with a variety of women.

The emotional candour these women have displayed both in front of and behind the camera forms the basis of my work as an artist. Without their collaboration and support the Anima Series could not exist.

R J Poole

Item (1)

The following extract is from the Anima book of prose:

The world we occupy is filled with detail. It is filled with many things that distract us from ourselves. Often we are exhausted by these details, imagining all the while that being occupied in this way is proof of our progress. Yet in truth our progress is a circle that revolves upon itself. It is a sphere around which we orbit in pursuit of more detail.

Activity is often the absence of contentment, for in motion there is solace. In movement lies a false sense of hope that carries us forward and we are borne along by the lure of desire. Without knowledge of ourselves we may travel the world yet remain blind to its wonders. We may transit the heavens yet have little understanding of the earth upon which we tread.

Only by remaining still may we find those things for which we look. Like the hub of a spinning wheel we may discover our centre and allow desire to pass us by. We may sit upon the shore and have no fear of being carried on the tide.


R J Poole



Item (2)

The only truth we may trust to
is that which comes from living
for there is no truth but the one
we bruise ourselves against

the one we breathe and cry over

the one that greets us each time
we awake.

And when we have passed from
this truth, we will recognise it
by its absence

we will see ourselves for who we
no longer are.


R J Poole
http://www.rjpoole.com/