Origin Story

I have been working on an upcoming project that has to do with the suppression of the divine feminine through the ages and the parallels between the historic oppression and exploitation of both women and the environment.  I have been doing a lot of reading on this subject lately, so of course it’s infiltrating into my thoughts beyond the books and into studio doings.

I found that piece of knotted wood with its suggestive form several years and kept it for years. I don’t even remember where I found it as I’ve had it for so long. I used to just hang it from a nail on my studio wall with other odd things that I collect. Then in 2023 I built a box and made a bed of moss for the piece of wood. I crocheted delicate leaves and vines around the wood knot. I hung this box on my studio wall for the past two years.

Sometime in the past few months I decided to take the moss and wood out of the built box and placed it in the deeper part of a cigar box I found at an estate sale a few years ago. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to put in the facing inner lid. Then pomegranate season descended on the grocery stores and I was like, yes of course. I have always thought that the pomegranate was the more likely fruit that should have been depicted in the paintings of Eve in Eden.

I cut the fruit and painted the pomegranate using a mix of gouache and watercolors. I don’t know if that’s a no-no, but I literally have tubes of both media mixed up in a drawer and I just pull what I want. I really enjoyed painting this, watching how the water droplets moved the pigment around in an organic way. I’m generally pretty tight when I paint with gouache.

Besides my personal thoughts of the pomegranate being Eve’s personal choice of fruit, I also always, of course, think of the story of Persephone and Demeter when I see a pomegranate. I was always fascinated by the story of how the jewel like seeds were what bound Persephone to the underworld and the subsequent deal made with her mother who wanted her back, which thus explained the seasons and the cycles of life and death and fertility.

Why is it that a woman eating a fruit in these stories is a portal to a punishment of some kind? With Eve, she and Adam become aware of their nakedness and are cast out of Eden and punished with mortal life and separation from their Creator. And Persephone is bound to the Underworld to become Queen of the dead. Though she also represents life and fertility as her return to the world above brings the earth back to life.

I have no answers, just questions and curiosity.

It is now sitting on top of a cabinet in my studio among various treasures that I have collected through the years, plus art supplies.

I found this poem by Nikita Gill that I really liked.

From a young age I loved to read and what I loved most to read were myths and tales from around the world. I would love one day to create work that will lead me back to my love of mythological narratives. I have been thinking about researching the myths and folklore of the countries that my parents came from as a way to learn about my ancestors. I don’t know very much about it. I think it would be a powerful way to learn about my roots. One day….