Magic moves me.

I guess you could call this my thesis work. The American Shaman is the most pervasive theme I keep returning to. In a way he’s my idealized self, a more fantastical me in a more fantastical world than our mundane.

This gallery holds a portion of the whole collection. I sifted through my archives and found nearly 40 images I wanted to show here. Some images were of this character, call him Tuan, some images were of the world he lives in. Some were of other spirits — animal and otherwise — who share the world with him.

Ultimately 40 was a bit too many so I focused here on 10 images of just Tuan himself. Presented here in chronologic order, you can see how my theme has evolved: from magic by itself to the vagabond magician watching over the world.

This character is a desert mage of American heritage, though the name Tuan comes from Celtic myth. The Celtic Tuan lived across generations, reincarnated each life in some new animal form, watching history pass and carrying his story forward with no sense of why or when. He was the ultimate historian, influencing little but seeing everything.

When I made the first image “Magelight” in 2008 I had no name for this character, just a sense of the magic I wanted to show. When I stood on the desert playa at Burning Man in 2011 I felt some concepts crystalize and a character story separate from my own began to form.

Tuan will continue to evolve, I’m sure. I’m currently penning story as fast as making pixels, so there’s really no telling where this may end up.

Every image in this gallery is a self portrait.

~W