Title: Baleful Plant
Subject: Arachne
Artist: Bryan Whitehead
Artist’s statement: Ovid makes clear that humanity’s main goal was to avoid pissing off the gods. The tale of Arachne – a woman who goes out of her way to mess with Minerva – seemed connected to our society’s willingness to harshly punish dissent, particularly in the workplace. Lewis Hine’s photos of mill workers proved to be the perfect materials for constructing this image. The theme was weaving, the young subjects showed the callous cruelty of power, and the photos were old enough to be in the public domain. I also enjoyed the play on words between the word “plant” in the passage and the industrial environment. And naturally I couldn’t create a spider without borrowing the head from Redon.
