“Llamar o tocar a la puerta means literally to play upon the instrument of the name in order to open a door. It means using words that summon up the opening of a passageway.”

— Clarissa Pinkola Estes in Women Who Run with the Wolves (p. 6, Rider Books 1992).

Niki Shi is a stage/pen name that I use for certain activities. Aside from having a nice rhythm, it plays on the instrument of my birth name, having particular properties relevant to my art practice. Here are some of the passageway openings it has summoned so far:

Niki:

• a nickname for my birth name, and the one I use in daily life

• an adapted rendering of the Ancient Greek Nike, a goddess of victory including in art and athletics, sometimes seen as an aspect of Athena. Nike is close to the Ancient Greek root of Nicole

Shi:

• a shortening of my legal surname from Dutch, designating a maker/painter of shields/signs/crests

• an adapted spelling of the English pronoun she

• a phonetic rendering of the Irish sidhe or Gaelic Scottish sìth (both pronounced ‘shee’) - earthworked mounds or hills in Irish and Scottish folklore, associated with the fae/faerie/otherworld.