THIS IS...

SCAREDSACRED

An Experimental Website Developed by Velcrow Ripper

(Not to be confused with ScaredSacred Mutation 4: The Film)

In other times, in other places, an important source of wisdom was, and is, the Oracle. Stories were/are passed down from generation to generation, from human to human. In recent times, especially in Western societies, but increasingly in a westernizing globe, stories and sources of wisdom and information are documented and filtered by the mass media; traditional stories and myths become co-opted, homogenized, Disneyfied. The Internet, which strangely enough is a form of mass media itself, can, and often does, represent a move back to community generated wisdom. ScaredSacred is a WorldWideWeb site of interlinking personal histories: an electronic oracle.

"An Oracle and a bringer of joy, the storyteller is the living memory of her time, her people..." -Trin T. Min-Ha, from the book "Blasted Allegories"

The two primary nodes of exploration are Scared and Sacred. The Scared nodes explore stories of fear: fear of death ( Death After Death), scared stories of previous generations ( Scared Past), our own Scared Moments, and stories of Scared Futures. The Sacred node explores such areas as sacred stories from previous generations ( Sacred Past), our own Sacred Moments, visions of a Sacred Future, sacred stories of death ( Life After Life).

The basis of the site is provided from material from my own personal histories and stories. Throughout ScaredSacred are spaces for the on-line viewer to post their own stories on the themes of each node.

The piece will be forever metamorphising and expanding; this growth is part of the process. In some senses this is like the documentary approach I am accustomed to, except that it is presented as it grows, instead of as a complete whole after a long period of development. You can revisit the site to participate in and experience this growth.