My interest in painting upon jars stems from my high respect for the traditional craft of pottery which is both artistic and functional. I see the jar deeply connected to the stories of mythology and my own Syrian heritage. I wanted to give a voice to the jar by setting a story upon its surface. The result is a three jar series with a narrative based upon Hanna Segal’s writing on beauty:
“We may find that something is pretty but not beautiful unless the dark side of life also is taken into account, albeit unconsciously”.
Segal also writes that “there is also a counterbalancing of the violence by its opposite in the form,” a universal theme that opposites complement each other. Beauty 1 is a painting of my impression of ugliness, rendering the form of Carravagio’s Medusa upon a traditional large pot, in the Hellenic style and colour, using Italian egg tempera and acrylic colours. In opposition I present the celebrated Syrian queen, Zenobia, as a shadow cast along the wooden base that supports the jar.
I am using mythological symbols from Greece, Turkey and Syria. The snake features in ancient religion, mythology and literature as the creature admired and feared for its creative life force, its ability to transform and its powers of healing. So, whilst I represent ugliness in the shape of Medusa, the once beautiful but forever evil pariah, albeit highly respected, the writhing snakes may not actually be bringing an additional force of ugliness; there may actually be a positive element in their presence, yet another paradox! In the shadow of Medusa’s ugliness I have painted the beautiful face of Zenobia, clever and brave. The 3rd Century Syria that Queen Zenobia controlled was at a peak of civilisation. Whilst the stories of the two beauties contrast each other, they are both bound together by their respective downfalls.
According to legend Medusa was once a very pretty woman, but a goddess jealous of her beauty made her ugly with hair full of snakes. The sinister snake symbol, though, has an antithesis in ancient tradition and religion. It was actually a symbol of fertility, rebirth, even eternal life. The snake would adorn the crown of ancient pharaohs.
My research into the two stories/myths involved travel in Greece and Turkey, just as much as reference to my Syrian heritage. For the purpose of the project I place the Greek myth of Medusa as representative of the west, mindful of course that Medusa had a positive connotation for the Roman and even Byzantine civilizations, the latter being an ‘eastern’ civilization, even. Historically, Zenobia is an important Syrian character who came into conflict with the Roman Empire.