For this exhibit I chose to portray the goddess Persephone because of her two very different aspects.  She is both the Personification of Spring and the Queen of the Underworld.

Persephone is the daughter of Zeus, king of the gods, and Demeter, goddess of the harvest and seasons.  As a beautiful maiden, Persephone was abducted by Hades, god of the Underworld.  Because she ate some pomegranate seeds while in the Underworld, Persephone must remain with Hades as his queen for a portion of every year.  During the time she is separated from her mother, Demeter's grief causes the earth to become cold and barren.  Persephone's yearly return from the Underworld causes plants to burst forth once again from the earth.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus takes a perilous journey into the realm of the Underworld to seek permission from Persephone to speak to a dead prophet, Tiresiasin, who can tell Odysseus what he must do in order to return home from his epic travels.

In my painting there is some iconography relating to Persephone.  A lily plant springs from the bank of one of the rivers in the Underworld, and bats flit through the gloom.  Persephone's veil is bordered with lilies of the valley.