The Goddesses in Woman: Artemis, Demeter, Hestia
The collection was born from the participation in the Tincal Lab Challenge 2022, titled Jewelry and Literature.
In response to this "call," I was inspired by the book The Goddesses in Every Woman by Jean S. Bolen, with the aim of translating into jewelry the essence of three female archetypes, represented by the Greek goddesses Artemis, Demeter, and Hestia.
For me, the traits they embody represent the fundamental aspects of femininity
Artemis
I started with Artemis, the essence of the feminine as an infallible capacity for focused action - symbol of an embodied Woman who perfectly realises her own nature as an individual being.
A woman who embodies the archetype of Artemis points her goal to herself, and with the bow of her well-rounded heart she shoots the arrow of her being into the world. A magnificent and unparalleled parabola unfolds in the ether of reality. The goal is reached moment by moment, along the entire course of the unforeseen trajectory
From the pages of the book attributed to Apollodorus entitled Bibliotheca - in which the lives and genealogies of the Greek Gods are narrated - I extracted the detail of the name of the Goddess in Greek, making this cover the silver core of the arrow. In this way I intended to symbolically incorporate the essence of the Goddess into the same material the ring is made of.
The words inscribed on the ring are an excerpt from this sentence - Ἄρτεμις μὲν οὖν τὰ περὶ θήραν ἀσκήσασα παρθένος ἔμεινεν - which can be translated as: "Artemis therefore remained a virgin, [always] dedicating herself to hunting"
Demeter
After Artemis, I recognised in Demeter the essence of the feminine, as the inexhaustible capacity to generate.
I created the structure of this piece with papier-mâché made from the pages of the book attributed to Apollodorus, titled Bibliotheca, which narrates the lives and genealogies of the Greek Gods. For this Goddess as well, I intended to symbolically incorporate her divine essence into the very material of which the jewel is made.
To also incorporate the "con-crete" aspect of the Goddess, I used pigments of burnt umber, burnt sienna, and natural sienna, along with chalk and natural fiber
Demeter rests: it is winter, her womb is flat.
She awakens: it is spring, the period of insemination.
Demeter's apotheosis is in summer: her womb is at maximum expansion.
She gives birth in autumn.
And the four seasons are but the faces of Demeter in her annual creative process
Demeter, the feminine on the plane of matter: Mother Earth. Inexhaustible ability to create, to generate fruits from her womb (when she is not at rest).
Fruits of all kinds, shapes, colours, sizes. Fruits of all tastes: bitter, sweet, delicate, spicy.
Fruits, nourishment for the spirit, which thanks to them can sustain its earthly forms.
Every being on earth is the fruit of Demeter
Hestia
After Artemis and Demeter, I identified in Hestia the essence of the feminine spiritual nature, as the infinite capacity for welcoming.
The material with which I created even this piece is papier-mâché obtained from the pages of the book attributed to Apollodorus.
Hestia is the Spirit in her feminine nature: infinite welcoming of the hearth as a circular space full of light and warmth, vivified at its centre by the sacred Fire of Eternity
Compassion of the Heart, wisdom of the Mind, imperturbable serenity of Soul: these, the unmistakable traits of Hestia.
These words written by T. S. Eliot in the 1st of the Four Quartets (Part V, vv. 193-196) are worth describing the Goddess:
«The inner freedom from the practical desire,
The release from action and suffering, release
From the inner and the outer compulsion, yet surrounded
By a grace of sense, a white light still and moving...»
Within her hearth, Hestia welcomes the whole world and all its movement - imperturbable remaining at the centre, in empathetic and loving participation of the Heart
Texts by virginio
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