Trail of Tears Art Installation

Two separate installation pieces entitled 'The Trail of Tears' representing not only the ritual eternal mourning for the god Adonis but my own personal struggle with cancer. The stairway is intended to represent the journey of the Goddess Inanna to the Underworld. Aphrodite and Persephone both were in love with the handsome Adonis, and Zeus decreed that the god spend a third of the year in the Underworld with Persephone, a third of the year with Aphrodite and a third of the year by himself. 

The actual dried flowers (dead flowers) used in the installation were given to me by friends and family when I was diagnosed with cancer in September 2018.

The tale of Adonis continues to influence festivals to this day.

In the ancient Sumerian version, it was the Great Goddess Inanna who originally volunteered to descend to the Underworld to participate in the mourning rituals after the death of the husband of Ereshkigal (her own dark sister).  Her sister then stripped her of all of her powers, and hanged her body 'like a piece of meat' from a hook, where she was plagued by demons in the forms of flies.  She obtained her freedom only by promising to send some one in her place.

When she ascended to the world of the living, she discovered that while her faithful servant had remained loyally at the entrance, mourning her disappearance, her consort Dumuzi had been partying, never giving her a thought, and actually seating himself upon her throne.  So she decreed he would serve in her stead, and a pursuit followed to capture him when he attempted to flee.  In any event, down he went like Adonis later, to act as consort for the Queen or the Underworld for part of the year.  

These all are tales about the seasons, when the seed must be planted in the dark earth, watered until it grows to maturity, then cut down with a sickle.    The god is born, dies and returns on an annual basis.

The ancient tales of Canaan depict this as a fight between Ba'al, Lord of the Sky, and Mot, Lord of the Underworld.  This version is very interesting because they alternate as sacrifices.  

When Anat kills Mot:

The maiden Anath meets Him.

As with the heart of a cow toward her calf,

As with the heart of an ewe toward her lamb,

So is the heart of Anath toward Baal.

She seizes the God Mot.

With a sword She cleaves Him,

With a fan She winnows Him,

With a fire She burns Him,

In the millstones She grinds Him,

In the fields She plants Him,

So that the birds do not eat His flesh,

Nor the fowl destroy His portion.

Flesh calls to flesh.'

Ba'al's body is found by the river, and carried back to Heaven by a goddess.  Mourning ensues. 

Very much a depiction of the actual life of the fields, where seeds are planted, harvests are followed by winnowing, grinding of grain and so on.