Self-Portraiture

Mapping the Labyrinth

About ‘Mapping the Labyrinth’

The Minotaur is a creature born from a king’s hoarding greed and a mother’s cursed lust, used as a weapon to (quite literally) cow foreign powers. But there is an ancient kylix drinking cup depicting the Minotaur as a baby, sitting on its mother’s lap as if about to suckle. The image cut me so deep: a small child who knows only hunger, later caged in a dark labyrinth by its own family as punishment for something as natural as a desire to be fed. This led me to consider the ways we suffer for our ancestors’ mistakes and false beliefs, how inherited shame manifests in self-betrayal. What would you do to try to find a way out of the darkness?

Thanks to Jonni Good of Ultimate Paper Mache, who creates and sells spectacular animal mask patterns, which I used to create the Minotaur mask. To learn more about how I made the mask and labrys, watch this video in Alsos: The Patron Portal.