My previous solo exhibition, entitled Abundance of Apollo: The Celestial Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes of Greek Mythology, served as a point of reference for this new body of work, titled The Curse. 

The Curse accentuates feminine archetypes within Greek mythology through a lens of reclamation, resilience, and renewal. The series illuminates key figures - Medusa, Persephone, Demeter, Cassandra, and Pandora - as gestural, vibrant meditations on the gravity of inherited myth and ancestral burden. These narrative paintings work to reclaim the reputations of their subjects—not as monsters or collateral damage shaped by a masculine-god-complex, but as figures worthy of autonomy, freedom, and dignity in the face of the gods who sought to control them.

Medusa

Medusa, who was assaulted by Poseidon in Athena’s sacred temple, was punished by Athena for allegedly breaking her vow of chastity as a priestess. Because Poseidon was Athena’s uncle and a more powerful deity, Athena could not punish him directly. Instead, she directed her retribution toward Medusa, citing her beauty as the cause of Poseidon’s aggression. Athena transformed Medusa into a monstrous Gorgon with snakes for hair and a petrifying gaze that turned onlookers to stone. While this punishment reinforces the power structures among the gods, it can also be read as an act of protection - an enchantment meant to shield Medusa from further unwanted advances.

Medusa became a focal point in this series, with several variations explored on paper. The front-facing pose was integral to establishing movement within the composition, created using a bilateral drawing technique. Drawing with both hands simultaneously helps regulate the nervous system and serves as a routine exercise for me to release control within my practice.

Persephone

Persephone was abducted while picking flowers, forced into a chariot, and taken to the Underworld by her uncle Hades. Her father, Zeus, had secretly agreed to give her to Hades to appease him, hiding this betrayal from her mother, Demeter. Persephone was later coerced into eating pomegranate seeds to seal her fate as Queen of the Dead. Because consuming food from the Underworld binds one to it, Persephone was required to spend part of each year there for eternity. Persephone’s absence marks winter, when the earth grows cold and barren.

The painting of Persephone is composed as a flattened profile to represent the delineation of seasons. The portion of her face that is unseen recedes into darkness behind a veil. Her languid gaze rests beneath a pronounced brow line bearing the weight of a heavy crown. Her head is encased in a somber spring palette and accentuated with an innocent flower chain.

Demeter

Demeter’s profound grief over her daughter Persephone’s abduction caused a devastating famine that threatened the lives of both mortals and gods. She searched the ends of the earth for Persephone and neglected her duties as the goddess of the harvest. Zeus intervened to halt the famine and to atone for his betrayal, brokering an agreement that allowed Persephone to spend part of the year with her mother and the remainder in the Underworld. This arrangement established the seasons: Demeter’s grief marks winter, while her joy at Persephone’s return becomes spring and summer.

In the painting of Demeter, the use of color reflects the way light shifts in autumn, leaving a warm, red-toned spectrum in the atmosphere. Autumn brings shorter days and encroaching darkness, and the harvest depicted appears dry and flat, echoing the landscape’s depletion.

Pandora

Pandora was the first mortal woman, created by the gods at Zeus’s command as retribution for Prometheus stealing fire for mankind. Hephaestus formed her from earth and water; Aphrodite granted her beauty; Hermes gave her a cunning mind and a deceitful tongue; and Hera bestowed curiosity. As a wedding gift, Zeus gave Pandora a sealed storage jar (pithos), which she opened, releasing the multitude of evils trapped inside. Only hope remained, suggesting that even in despair, humanity retains a necessary spark of resilience. Pandora’s story leaves her with a legacy of blame for the world’s suffering - simply for being exactly as she was designed.

Pandora is portrayed as burdened by guilt for unleashing these evils. The bangles cuffed to her wrists symbolize her permanent connection to this mythic transgression. Her figure, illuminated in warm tones against a dark backdrop, reflects the curiosity that ushered in the end of the Golden Age and the onset of human hardship. The flowers drifting from a dead stalk function as small messengers of hope released into the world.

Cassandra

Cassandra, a Trojan princess, was granted the gift of prophecy by Apollo, who was enamored with her. When she accepted the gift but rejected his advances, Apollo cursed her so that her prophecies would never be believed. Despite foreseeing the destruction of Troy and the danger of the Trojan Horse, her warnings went unheeded.

The chinoiserie-inspired style of Cassandra’s portrait, with its monochromatic blues, echoes the Blue Willow tableware pattern and symbolizes tasseography - the reading of tea leaves, where residue is interpreted as symbols of the future. Cassandra’s form is anchored to the globe beneath her, a spyglass teetering on her leg. She holds an assemblage of sticks representing the Trojan Horse, tying her visually to the very fate she foresaw but could not alter.