Narrative Project

* All source images were taken from a flickr account from a man named Leif Peng, who does excellent work scanning and sourcing images from old magazines and journals.

For the first image in the narrative, I wanted to show the scene in which Hades errupts from the earth and snatches Persephone. I drew inspiration from old science fiction pulp novels.

The source images are all from the flickr set at this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leifpeng/sets/72157594277591720/

From this image I took Persephone, your iconic "Damsel in Distress."

And who better to play Hades, king of the underworld, than Frankenstein himself.

For when Hades erupts out of the earth, I decided to use a picture of New York sinking into the Atlantic Ocean, but I clone-stamped out all the people.

For the final image, I generated the text at the top, trying to replicate the font in "When Worlds Colide" as closely as I could. 'Color by Technicolor' was part of the original poster, but I added the directors names as the names of the three fates from greek mythology, and also the lead characters in the story to be the lead actors in the 'film.'

For the second piece, I wanted to echo a romance novel cover from the mid 40s to mid 50s. I figured the tragedy of what Demeter went though would be well represented with the soft, romantic paint and dramatic pose of the main character I found. The myth also references the creation of winter, so it was imperative that I find the perfect, cold winter shot.

I chose the part of the double page spread that didn't include the happy church goers, because I didn't feel it would fit the mood of desolation very well.

Originally I kept my eyes peeled for an older woman, since Demeter is first and foremost a mother in this story. But when the word "Desperate" jumped out at me, this woman seemed like a very reasonable greek goddess to me. She looked mature but young, since no one really ages in mythology. She was also so savvy in her coat and gloves, it seemed she could really play the part of someone who had caused a winter that was starving everyone.

And here's the final image. The "Coming to Theaters This November" was an afterthought. Even though I was planning on making it romance novel-esque, it fit in with the series better to make it a movie, plus the ability to have a very teasing tag line was appealing.

When Persephone returns, it is also the beginning of spring. I limited myself to purely springtime images, thinking it would be too much to try to tackle the idea of her permanent imprisonment to Hades and her joyous return in the same picture. Since the goal of the myth is to illustrate how seasons came to be, I stuck with the latter.

Very springtime background.

If Julie Andrews skipping on an Austrian hill top doesn't scream "GO SPRING!" I don't know what does. This image with her and her baggage definitely contrasts with the first barely dressed 'damsel' I had who was stolen away, but I figured the idea of her packing to return to Demeter would mean that she had found some sort of home in the Underworld.

This is Demeter, replenishing the world again with flowers and food upon Persephone's return.

And the final image in the series. The tagline "And it all started with a pomegranate" alludes to the fact that now spring every year is here because Persephone ate food in the underworld, and how has to return there for 6 months of every year. If it weren't for the 6 pomegranate seeds, we would be blessed with an everlasting summer, but alas, we're not. I was interested in studying the seasons because I left just as my summer in the states was starting to get good. I landed in the middle of winter in Tassie, and even though it will be plenty nice by the end of November, when I leave, I'll have to go back to another 6 months of a cold Washington winter. I can't complain though, because it's a pretty lucky thing to witness spring three times in a row.