REBIRTH.  by Pam England  painting is 36" x 60" (print sizes below)
 
I drew inspiration for Rebirth from my nearly four-decade love affair with the epic Sumerian poem “Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth” and from an exquisite terra-cotta relief from Mesopotamia created between 1800 and 1850 BCE and brought to England in 1924. 
    At the end of the third millennium B.C., Sumerian texts list approximately 3,600 deities. Inanna was among the most widely venerated as the goddess of love, sexuality, the power of creation, and war; she was a symbol of the divine feminine, provision, fertility and abundance. 
    In the epic myth, Inanna and her twin-sister Ereshkigal represent the light of consciousness and the shadow respectively. Inanna-Ereshkigal are separated when Ereshkigal is given power over the Underworld.
     My painting titled REBIRTH portrays Inanna's descent into the underworld in response to Ereshkigal's persistent call from the Great Below. During her journey, she comes across a long-forgotten buried part of herself, represented by Ereshkigal, and undergoes a great shock, an ego death, and a psychic death. However, this shattering eventually makes her whole, but only after she undergoes a transfiguration by hanging on the hook for three days. This process leads to a complete change in form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state. After this, Inanna takes up the attributes of the Owl, wearing an owl-feather cape and her feet metamorphosed into talons.
 
The painting is rich in symbolism, with representations of lions, a crown, gold rings, and cuneiform writing on the steps. To help understand the meaning of these symbols, a booklet is included with the painting.
 
Archival quality prints
Small.  6 x 10.5, with white border 8.5 x 11":   $30 plus S&H
Medium  10" x 16" includes 1/2" white borders:   $50 plus S&H
Larger prints available by special order
Prints come with description of the symbolsim