‘Our interpretation of our mythological heritage conditions the way in which we think about ourselves’ (Carolyne Larrington, 1992, The Feminist Companion to Mythology).
‘Transforming Myth’, (funded by a London Arts Board individual artist’s award), takes a contemporary look at seven stories from Greek myth in order to explore issues of gender and identity, sexuality, conscious and unconscious, looking, seeing and being seen.
The work comprises a series of photography-based installation pieces. Each piece is based on a female figure from Greek myth and retells the story from this character’s viewpoint, drawing out its psychological relevance for relationships today by means of text in the form of poems. The photographic images are black-and-white montages and these, together with the structure of each piece and the accompanying poem, all contribute to the reinterpretation of the myths from a psychoanalytic perspective. A central aim in this work is to draw the viewer into each piece so that s/he engages directly with the myth and makes a personal response to it.
Four pieces are wall-mounted. These all consist of a box frame (33ins by 20ins by 2ins) containing three images. The central image in each piece is a black and white montaged photograph created in the darkroom. It is flanked by two photographs which incorporate phrases from accompanying poems. For Ariadne and Daphne, the flanking images are mounted at the front of the box whilst the central image is mounted on the back surface in order to create a sense of the character in the central image being trapped or enclosed. For Aglauros and Scylla, conversely, the flanking images are on the back surface whilst the central one is at the front of the box, suggesting escape. The four pieces are:
1. Ariadne: Ariadne helped Theseus to kill the Minotaur and escape with her but he then abandoned her. This piece deals with Ariadne’s fantasies about her relationship with Theseus and her idealisation of him. The central image represents the breakdown of this idealisation.
2. Daphne: This piece relates to the story of Daphne’s transformation into a tree as she attempted to avoid Apollo’s advances and suggests that she may have had complex motives for her flight. The central image is of Daphne trapped inside the tree.
3. Aglauros: Aglauros was jealous of her sister, Herse, for her (Herse's) relationship with the god, Hermes. Eventually, Hermes transformed Aglauros into a marble statue. This piece reinterprets the story so that Aglauros, perversely, welcomes her transformation both as a release from torment and a gift of beauty. The central image is a photographic montage of a hand emerging triumphantly from rock.
4. Scylla: Scylla was a sea nymph who fell foul of the enchantress Circe when Glaucus fell in love with her rather than Circe. Glaucus unwisely asked Circe for a love potion for Scylla only to find that, when Scylla entered the sea, Circe’s potion turned the lower half of her body into sea monsters. In a further transformation, Scylla became a dangerous rock (of Scylla and Charybdis notoriety). The central image in this piece is of Scylla in the rock turning a blind eye to her less acceptable feelings.
The remaining three pieces are floor-based installations:
5. Persephone: Persephone was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld, and separated from her mother, Demeter. This piece questions the traditional interpretation of the myth as depicting an ideally loving mother-daughter relationship which is cruelly interrupted by Hades. Rather, the story is seen to be of Persephone’s struggle to grow up and separate from her mother and of the difficulty experienced by Demeter in allowing her to do so. A photographic montage showing a mouth-shaped crack in stone, is installed on the floor and laminated so that the viewer may walk over it. A photograph on the wall behind incorporates a phrase from the accompanying poem. The viewer has a sense of being swallowed up by the earth, as was Persephone when she was carried off to the Underworld.
6. Echo : Echo was in love with Narcissus but the relationship was doomed because he could love no-one but himself and she could only communicate by echoing his words. In this piece, a photographic montage (24ins by 24ins) representing Echo is installed horizontally on a light box. A sheet of observation glass (one way mirror) is supported 12 inches above the image. The viewer, taking the position of Narcissus in the myth, looks down into the glass (as if into a pool). A pressure switch operates the lightbox. When the viewer switches it on the image of ‘Echo’ is seen through the glass. When it switches off, the viewer sees him/herself reflected in the glass. The accompanying poem is played on a continuous tape but with a gap between playings so that the timing of the sound is unpredictable.
7. Pandora: Pandora was the first woman, the gift of the gods to men. She had a box which was to remain closed but her curiosity overcame her and when she raised the lid all the ills of the world were released. This piece interprets the story as that of a woman initially attempting to maintain a facade of perfection by locking away her feelings but then daring to look more deeply into herself. A cubic box (9ins approx) is supported on a plinth. The viewer opens the box and a photographic image is projected from inside the box onto a ceiling panel above (there is a slide projector behind an aperture in one wall of the box and the projected image is deflected onto the ceiling by a mirror, mounted inside the box at 45 degrees).
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