Skip to main content

Bound by Fate

Hecuba: Bound by Fate by Suzanne Coley
Euripides' tragedy Hecuba is one of the bleakest tales about loss, desolation, and revenge during war.   The character of Queen Hecuba of Troy offers a view of suffering through the eyes of a mother.  Wife of King Priam, Hecuba is the mother of Hector, Paris (the main cause of the Trojan War), Cassandra (prophetess), Polydorus, and Polyxena.  (Depending on the Greek poet who wrote about her, Hecuba has as many as 50 children and as few as 14.)
"Never ought words to have outweighed deeds in this world."
Hecuba
My vision was to capture the moment Hecuba prepares to take revenge on Polydorus' killer, King Polymestor.  Why this moment?  Hecuba has to be sweet and persuasive to get her son's killer to trust her enough to be alone with her.  Once they are alone, she plucks out Polymester's eyes and destroys his family.   

Fate demands that words, both powerful and worthless, yield to actions.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Born of Love, Shakespeare's Sonnet 151

Over the summer I worked on new artwork, Born of Love , inspired by Shakespeare's Sonnet 151. The book offers a translation of the sonnet to the language of textiles and embroidery.  Working on this book allowed me to explore the beauty of textiles from four continents.  Its construction is inspired by the poetic structure within the sonnet.  This book, along with two other of my art pieces, will be on exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library from 16 Sept 2024 - 9 Feb 2025.
Post a Comment
Read more

Evidence: The Art of Candy Jernigan

Art is Life I was introduced to Candy Jernigan's art and book when I was going through cancer treatment more than a decade ago.  Her meticulously arranged collages, paintings, and drawings have had a profound impact on the way I view art, life, and visual storytelling.   Before reading her book, I had never seen how powerful art journaling could be -- that it could also be an artistic tool for social commentary. Candy Jernigan (b. 1952- 1991) attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.  Soon after graduating she became a painter, set and costume designer in Provincetown, MA.  In Evidence , Stokes Howell wrote, " By the time she returned to New York in 1980 she was starting to develop the themes and methods she would work with the rest of her life."   Candy described the transformative process of taking found objects, "trash," and discarded materials from life and turning them into art: "In 1980, as I set out on my first trip to Europe, I decided...
Post a Comment
Read more

Flowers For Mistress Overdone, 2024

 Coded Threads: Translating Shakespeare Through Art The following is a page from Flowers For Mistress Overdone , the first of two books that I presented at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Nov 16. The pages for the books are created with textiles from 5 continents (Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America).  The textiles were collaged and sewn into various designs. The fabric on the left is a collage of American and Tanzanian fabrics that I combined with one of my linocuts.  The fabric on the right was an original mid century modern English quilt top I purchased at London's Antique Quilt Company during my summer in the UK researching Shakespeare's texts.  The owner, Christopher, sources the highest quality textiles and it was truly a joy to transform this quilt into pages of my books inspired by Shakespeare's Measure For Measure. It was wonderful to present a few of my original artworks and embroidered books during my talk at the Folger Shakespeare Library....
Post a Comment
Read more