Pomegranates. The food that tied Persephone to the Underworld. An unusual fruit, worthy of attention.

I remember being surprised to find out that most people eat the entire pomegranate seed, including the hard little pip in the center. In my family, eating a pomegranate was always a very time consuming activity. To this day, I eat them by carefully removing the seeds and then individually gnawing off the red fleshy part around each seed. If Persephone had taken this approach (spitting out the core of the seeds), perhaps winter would only be cold and nasty for the outer weeks of each month, during the six months of winter.

This is my portrait of Circe, an enchantress that Odysseus encounters during his travels. I think she's admirable because although her first reaction upon meeting strangers is to turn them into pigs, she later makes friends with these guys. She ends up helping Odysseus visit the underworld, through the Grove of Persephone (thus, the pomegranate connection), and then feeding and entertaining the crew for a whole year. (Though, you have to wonder whether she fed them on bacon made from previous travelers who did not earn her favor.) Circe represents old magic, the power of night, and the mystery of the feminine.

After I made the portrait (from all the seeds of one pomegranate), I ate the portrait. Then, I reassembled it with all the leftover pips.