In 2025 visual artist Kit-Ling Tjon Pian Gi continues her ‘The Myth of El Dorado’ art project, with the launch of the fourth series of artworks in which she highlights a specific animal species. At Readytex Art Gallery we are therefore happy to invite you to come enjoy the beautiful new series featuring the owl. Kit-Ling’s ‘The Myth of El Dorado’ art project consists of the production of 5 series of 9 small paintings of 30 x 30 cm and a number of corresponding blog posts published on her website https://kitlingtjonpiangi.net/blog/. In 2024 she launched the first three series within the project, featuring the hummingbird, the jaguar and the caiman respectively. Symbolically, it feels appropriate that she kicks off the new year with a series focusing on the ‘wise’ owl.
The project began when Kit-Ling decided to further expand her explorations into the cultural diversity, biodiversity and power of the Alakondre concept in Suriname, with research into the inner strength and wealth of the broader region that Suriname is a part of. She draws on the age-old stories about El Dorado and the gold rush that accompanied it, but gives her own twist to the myth: “My intuition told me that the gold of El Dorado was not only the precious metal that is called gold. I had to explore the culture of the Indigenous people of South and Central America in search of their wisdom concerning the connection between animal and human.” While researching the cultural heritage in especially the visual language of the Indigenous people, Kit-Ling thus identified 5 particularly interesting and specific animal species. Within her search for the other ‘gold’ of El Dorado, her focus is now on the owl.
The owl of Athena and Minerva in Greek and Roman mythology respectively, was the first owl that Kit-Ling learned about at a young age. In classical antiquity, the owl was seen as a symbol of wisdom, intelligence and sagacity. In her recent research on myths and legends from the Mesoamerican region, she encountered a totally different view of the owl: Lechuza, a type of ‘Bubulaas’ or villain in Mexican and Mexican-American folklore. Lechuza was described, among other things, as a witch who took the form of an owl or as an owl who carried out the orders of a witch. In her blog post Kit-Ling questions: “Why did the owl become a symbol of evil associated with witchcraft, a bad omen and symbol of death?” She also talks about what she learned about the owl in her research of the Pre-Columbian Inca region and during her own trip to Peru recently.
The beautiful new owl series can be seen at Readytex Art Gallery, from February 8 to March 8, during the regular opening hours of the gallery from Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm and Saturday from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm. We look forward to your visit!
Don’t forget to read the new and previous blog posts on the website of Kit-Ling Tjon Pian Gi:
https://kitlingtjonpiangi.net/the-myth-of-el-dorado/
https://kitlingtjonpiangi.net/the-myth-of-el-dorado-in-search-of-another-gold/
https://kitlingtjonpiangi.net/the-myth-of-el-dorado-the-owl/
Team Readytex Art Gallery
Kit-Ling’s vierde expo ‘The Myth of El Dorado’-serie met de uil
Kit-Ling Tjon Pian Gi 