“The Promise of Spring”

12”x30” acrylic & gold leaf on canvas, 2025

The story of Persephone has intrigued me for many years. There is something so mysterious and elusive about it, something scary and sexy, empowering and relevant. The concept of the young goddess being a victim never resonated with me, I always felt like there was something deeper under the surface of the allegory, some reckoning of the subconscious, shadow work, and reclamation of power.

As I painted this piece, I meditated on these ideas. Perhaps in the symbolism of her abduction by Hades, Persephone was actually captured by her own unconscious and ignorance. However, as she ate the pomegranate, she integrated these abandoned parts of herself, and was therefore brought into balance, liberation, and her queendom.

In the land of the living, Persephone is seen as a helpless maiden, perfect and pure and naïve. Then, when she is in the underworld for those winter months each year, she sits atop the throne as the queen of the underworld. She is both of these women.

What are your interpretations of the story of Persephone? Have you ever explored alternate ideas to the tired narrative of victim and perpetrator?