Title page of the edition/portfolio Eros & Psyche, 2021, which consists out of thirteen giclee prints, format 56 x 41 cm
Eros & Psyche - Antiquity as reflected in today’s female self-awareness
The edition/portfolio Eros & Psyche is based on the eponymous myth from classical antiquity, written by Lucius Apuleius in the second century AD, as part of his Metamorphoses. The edition/portfolio consists in thirteen giclee prints, 56 x 41 cm, printed in an edition of twenty-five copies. The myth of ‘Eros & Psyche’ refers to the removal of impediments with regard to the love between Psyche (the embodiment of the soul) and Eros (love, sexual desire, the yearning for beauty) and their ultimate union. By the agency of an oracle Psyche falls in love with Eros, but partly due to Aphrodite – the goddess of love who is jealous of Psyche for her beauty, but is also the mother of Eros – she can no longer meet him. The myth describes Psyche’s search for him, as she wants to reunite with him. In order to bring this about, she has to fulfill well-nigh impossible assignments of Aphrodite, which against all odds, she brings to a successful conclusion. Mostly she does so with the help of natural elements and creatures she meets, but who are to be considered as symbols of her own mental and emotional development. Her self-awareness is born and this is the essence of the myth. Psyche succeeds in her search for Eros by a commendable perseverance and she obtains her own female independence in relation to man, in this case Eros. In fact the classical myth shows Psyche in the same position as held in our society today by modern women, who through hard-won emancipation claim their rightful position as equal to man. The story of Eros & Psyche is still of topical interest in our time, considering the current phase of the psychological development of the feminine in general and feminism in particular, which socially continue to expand.
Jeroen Noordhoek of FotoVakPrint Rotterdam printed 25 numbered and signed copies of the edition/portfolio, on 305 g/m², 56 x 41cm,100% Cotton White Ultra Smooth Photo Rag paper. Each copy is presented in a linen-covered cardboard box, made by Roest, bookbinder’s in Rotterdam.
