“Persephone – The Rape and Abduction”
(The Goddess Series)
(Acrylic)
Size: 120x90cm
ABOUT THIS PAINTING:
Western civilization stems from classical Greek culture
which has influenced our philosophical perspective up to the present time. Freud the founder of Psychology alluded to
Greek mythology when he discussed his theory.
Therefore we talk about the Oedipus complex, the life instinct as Eros
and the death drive as Thanatos. Aspects
of his very influential theory are derived from some of the Greek myths which
were complex stories about Gods and Goddesses and their interactions with
humans. In ancient times, these myths
served as a guide for human behaviour by illustrating the consequences of these
aberrant acts and highlight the good actions of heroes. The myths also served to explain the
unpredictability of nature.
Joseph Campbell showed that the ancient myths are
still pertinent in today’s society having been re-structured into present day
myths such as “Star Wars” and the like.
Therefore it appears that human behave and its myths have not changed
very much over the millennia - three thousand years on and we still seek out heroes
and heroines.
It was with that in mind that I painted and exhibited
a series of artworks that examined these aspects of our humanity that are
characterized by the classical Greek myths.
The art exhibition was called “In the Images of Goddesses” and each
painting celebrated an aspect of my own character, as represented by a Greek
deity. I have reviewed a number of these in this blog site (see blog posts Nos.
9/13/15/44).
“The Rape & Abduction of Persephone” has been
frequently painted in Western art. The
paintings often show Hades carrying Persephone off and the subject of the
artwork is often trivialized by Persephone being depicted as being in rapture
and ecstasy. This is because much of
Western art in the past has been sponsored by men. These wealthy patrons would prefer to see
rape as a “seduction” depicted as sexual persuasion to which the woman forced
to submit against her will, instead of what it actually is, brutal, demeaning,
criminal and abusive.
The myth tells of the harvest goddess Demeter’s
rejecting the advances of the gods towards her daughter Persephone and hiding
Persephone away. “The
story of the maiden’s abduction by Hades against her will is traditionally
referred to as the Rape of Persephone. Zeus, it is said, advised Hades
(God of the Underworld) who was
in love with the beautiful Persephone, to carry her off, as her mother Demeter, was
not likely to allow her daughter to go down to the Underworld. Persephone was
gathering flowers with Artemis and Athena—in a field when Hades came to abduct her, bursting through a cleft in the earth. Demeter, when
she found her daughter had disappeared, searched for her all over the earth. In
most versions she neglects the earth and in the depth of her despair she causes
nothing to grow. Helios, the sun, who sees everything, eventually, told Demeter what had
happened and at length she discovered Persephone had been abducted by Hades and
is forced to live in the Underworld. Finally,
Zeus pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities, who
also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone to her mother
Demeter.
The story continues... Hades indeed complied with the request, but
first he tricked Persephone by giving her a kernel of a pomegranate
to eat. She ate four seeds. It was a rule of the Fates that
whoever consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity
there. Persephone was released, but she was obliged to spend four months of
each year in the Underworld. This time represents Winter when the earth is dormant.”
(from Wikipedia)
The myth served in ancient Greek times to explain
the cycle of the seasons to a civilization that had no real understanding of
the workings of nature. Thankfully
humankind has advanced and now has unlocked much of nature’s secrets. One would also hope that humankind will have
advanced in its behaviour towards woman and children and regard rape and
abduction as serious crimes against those who are defenceless.
My painting of “Persephone” deals with the despair
felt when subjected to abuse. The
painting is not alluding to the possibility of my being raped and
abducted.
No – it’s about the universal abuse of women over
the ages. As recently as a couple of
hundred years ago, women were the ones burnt at the stake as witches when they
used herbs for healing. Women still are
being subjected to abuse in this world today as shown by the recent
demonstrations by women in India over the rape and abduction and murder of a
young woman in Deli recently.
We can choose to ignore these “distasteful” subjects
such as rape and child abuse but they fester like an infected wound and erupt
into the open and manifest as something catastrophic like the recent events in
India. It is better to address these issues directly, seeing them as they are,
instead of pretending they do not exist.
Artistic techniques used in the
painting:
The
composition of this painting is dominated by the diagonal upward thrust. This gives the viewer a sense of unease. It is a very forceful image and a little off
putting. The dominant shape is the
cleavage. The red against the dark blue
accentuates this forceful shape. It
suggests violence and a renting apart. As
I have mentioned before in my blog, the viewer should not presume that a colour
such as red means anger or blood, but given the subject of this painting is
rape, it is clear that blood is involved. The thin white line beside the red accentuates
this colour and draws the eye to the enclosed cleavage or rent.
The
background is subtly graduated and is a delicate blue/violet colour and
represents tortured skin. (The yellow on
the left hand side is staining through age of the photo and is not part of the
painting).
This
painting is fairly large and is quite a statement when seen. It is meant to alert the viewer to the screams
of the victim as she is dragged to her demise - Persephone is ravaged.
The
simplicity of the whole painting adds to its dynamic effect and brings home the
message better than most of the sanitized version of the past. What do you think?
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