IG: @charlottemartinillu Website

Femininity as Ancestral Sin in Greek Mythology

My thesis is an illustrated exploration of the great families of Greek mythology, specifically the narrative roles suffered by women and feminine deities within the context of the houses of Atreus, Thebes, and Athens. I attributed two pieces to each house and have included summaries of the myths I illustrated, placed next to each set of two pieces.

These particular houses are known for their generational misfortune, usually the result of an instigating sin so grievous that they were cursed by the gods for decades. The concept of ancestral sin is rooted in ancient religions of the Mediterranean, and with this project, I was interested in exploring the concept of femininity as ancestral sin. The ways in which generations of ancient patriarchal writers and subsequently translators of Greek mythology have pinned the embodiment and blame of these ancestral sins upon the shoulders of archetypal female characters has had repercussions for those who are trying to untangle what it means to embody the feminine in our present day. I wished to illustrate a personal divine feminine that could not ever exist, one never translated by a patriarchal narrative.

Bio

Charlotte Martin is an illustrator living and working in Portland, Maine. She makes digital work that uses heavy texture and strives to evoke traditional drawing techniques. Martin often draws figures with irrational proportions, usually with trunk-like legs and tiny heads to indicate connection with the earth. She finds inspiration in the myriad of world wide mythologies, the patterns and compositions of European folk art, and the beauty of everyday, utilitarian objects.