Madonna Bear (45/60)

A maternal bear figure rendered through Mayumi Oda's goddess iconography — the Madonna (title invoking the Christian tradition of the divine mother) combined with the bear (a figure of fierce maternal protection in indigenous traditions worldwide) to create a cross-cultural emblem of maternal power and ecological care. Oda's animal goddess figures — here the bear, elsewhere the dolphin, the deer, the turtle — place the natural world within the domain of the sacred feminine, making the protection of animals and ecosystems a spiritual as well as ethical imperative. The bear's combination of size, strength, and maternal ferocity makes her an ideal vehicle for Oda's celebration of protective feminine power.