The Woman With the Wolf

This tale by Slovenian writer and philosopher Mojca Kumerdej tells of Moo, a woman who lives in a prehistoric age when the passing of time is marked by “bigmoons”, when animals are both sacred and hunted, both enemies and allies, and when the only medicine available are herbs provided by a shaman. Moo, who knows how to listen to the voice of nature, has been chosen to be the new shaman of her clan in a world at the dawn of civilization, where incest is condemned and wisdom is passed by word of mouth from generation to generation. In other words, Moo lives at the start of the geological era known as the “Anthropocene”, characterized by the changes imprinted on the earth by human beings. Kumerdej’s tale may thus be read as a kind of prequel to the artistic research of Maja Smrekar, whose projects foresee apocalyptic scenarios generated by humanity’s impact on nature.