Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Charlotte Healey

Hercules, Slay

This work is about mistrust, violence, and sameness. It is the only work in the series to be definitive in its exterior setting and to show physical touch. Derived from the myth of Hercules’ battle against Antaeus, we see close combat. So close that discerning where one figure ends and the other begins is difficult. I intend to diminish difference between hero and foe, and I refer to the entire mass as the figure. Strong legs barrel through a skeletal form laying in the grasses. One end of the figure is lifted with such immediate force that we see them struggle and attempt fruitlessly to readjust. Their hands tear, and their head spins in a cloud of dusty confusion. One of their shoes has fallen off. They twist and reach to regain their footing, but they have been disconnected from their source of power – the Earth. We can see their mouth gasping for air as their body gets crushed like a soda can. Like many depictions of this legendary altercation, I show the final moment. The last-ditch effort to catch a breath. I do not feel the need to expand on how this applies to our time because it seems self-evident.