Mudhouse Residency, Agios Ioannis, Greece
2024 - Tyrian purple
Sourced from snails in the Mediterranean Sea, the Tyrian Purple pigment was said to be discovered when Hercules' dog’s mouth turned bright purple after chewing on a snail. Priced at three times the value of gold, the color came to be associated with royalty until 1856, when a synthetic purple alternative was created.
While researching the history of the pigment in Crete, I created a revisionist version of the story, where class struggle is carried out at the level of the sea snails, who were known to be cannibalistic and thus self-annihilating before they could be harvested for pigment.
A paralell body of work was sourced from imagery found at the base of the Morosini Fountain, built in 1628 to bring water to the city of Heraklion. Its panels are embossed with mythological depictions of maritime figures.
The resulting paintings were assembled in handmade artist frames and exhibited in 2024 at Mudhouse, Agios Ionnis, Crete, and Bon Voyage, 3A Gallery, New York, NY.