LAVINIA, VERGINIA, LUCRETIA / 2019 / ACRYLIC ON LINEN / 2M X 1.45M


LAVINIA, VERGINIA, LUCRETIA

2019 / ACRYLIC ON LINEN / 2M X 1.45M

This piece was a desire to communicate the themes of fate, inevitability, and a narrative that would be plot-driven (the loss of control over one’s situation), as opposed to character-driven where the protagonist, not exclusively, would unknowingly live at the behest of fate. Titus Andronicus, by Shakespeare, his first and least respected tragedy due to the erratic nature of the plot line and the extreme violence, among other atrocities, was a fictional representation of all things Roman, a time immediately before the collapse of the empire and its chaos. By using this story, I tried to accentuate the idea of fate and the inevitability of circumstance, to be without control of one’s own path and beholden to the whim of one’s environment.

Interestingly, parts of this story had been recycled, repackaged and retold from other narratives in this heinous and dramatic tragedy. This further ignited my interest in the cyclical nature and the reappearance of narratives.

Why are we so attracted to the same tropes over and over again?