Acrylic on wood
 
The saturated pomegranate as the focal point of this piece is a reference to the story of Persephone: a story in which a young woman is joyfully gathering flowers  when she’s suddenly stolen away into the Underworld by Hades. Her mother, Demeter, searches and pleads  for Zeus to intervene and return her daughter. Hades  agrees that he will return the child but tricks her into eating pomegranate seeds, which makes Persephone herself long to live part of her life in the underworld with Hades, and part of her life above ground with her mother. Eventually, Persephone embraces the darkness of the underworld and even finds her power in it.  Like Medusa, Persephone represents another young woman robbed of her innocence and forced to reckon with her newfound darkness .  She clutches her innocence in the form of flowers, while embracing the darkness that has taken her. There is certitude in which one becomes  a product of their environment but not a victim of it - in which one reclaims their power.