According to Greek mythology, Persephone the goddess of the harvest was abducted by her uncle Hades and taken to the underworld. When this led to humans starving due to the lack of food it was agreed that she would spend six months on the surface and the other six in the Underworld – thus giving rise to the seasons we experience today.
It’s this idea of light and dark, and the fact that one can’t exist without the other that brings together over 40 artists in a group exhibition at The Old Lock Up Gallery in the historic village of Cromford Derbyshire, on the edges of the Peak District National Park.
Hanging delicately between the light and dark is the work of Cristina Starr whose painting shows a woman holding skulls as symbols of death but also appears to be birthing new life. With the painting itself looking like it’s dripping with blood it captures the nexus of where life and death meet, as the woman appears as if hovering over a black abyss, and both giving birth to life and approaching death are key life moments that can both include blood and pain.
Some artists have leaned fully into the darkness with Estelle Spinner’s paintings showing the river Styx that marks the boundary of the Underworld and the ancient festival of Samhain – a major influence on the contemporary and more sanitised Halloween. While others have embraced the light as Andy Gray captures stunning photographs of woodlands caught in a golden glow.
Artists in the exhibition have drawn directly from the Greek myth where Persephone was said to have eaten pomegranates in the underworld with Daniela Sommer-Owsianny painting a still-life featuring the fruit and a self-portrait as Persephone tearing into some pomegranates. Deborah Frith has engaged wider Greek Mythology with a striking ceramic Medusa with fangs and tentacles.
There’s a great variety of works in the show including the beautifully lit figurative painting of Sal Jones and Verity Clark, atmospheric landscapes by Charley Hellier, Ink and gold leaf trees by Fiona Gray, a stoneware vessel by Hayley Blackwell and Rebecca Leivers’ armoured breastplate sculpture made from embossed grave rubbings on aluminium and copper as a way of exploring grief.
Artists often consider light and dark when creating and composing an artwork, and mine happy and dark places for artistic inspiration. These contrasts are evident in this exhibition with an impressive array of varied artists united by this singular theme that asks us to step into the light of this show and embrace both the light and dark themes within it, in the world around us and within ourselves.
Persephone is on at The Old Lock Up Gallery in Derbyshire until 24th August.
