Baron Samedi

(detail) Oil pastel and collage. Baron Samedi of Haitian Vodou, spirit (Lwa) of the dead. Hanae Rivera.

Circe’s Cup

Oil pastel on paper. “Who knows not Circe, The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape, And downward fell into a groveling swine?”(John Milton, Comus). One of the most enduringly fascinating women of myth, who delighted in turning men to beasts but was in turn fascinated by Odysseus. Hanae … Read more

Shrink Me

Woodblock print & chin collé. With this potion, you can enjoy a feast & still shrink in size! “This bottle was not marked ‘poison,’ so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) … Read more

The Mead of Poetry

Intaglio print with chin collé. In this tale from Norse mythology, the Dwarf brothers Fjalar & Galar craft the Mead of Poetry from the Blood of Kvasir (himself formed from the combined spit oath of all the gods) along with classic ingredients like honey and berries. Yum. Hanae Rivera.

Servants of Baba Yaga

(detail) Watercolor. Baba Yaga’s famous chaotic 3-legged chicken house, and her horsemen (in an unconventional order specific to this project). Hanae Rivera

鶴の恩返し Crane Wife

Acrylic on canvas, 46×91.4cm. Tsuru no Ongaeshi is a Japanese tale of a crane who gives deeply of herself in gratitude for her rescue from a trap. She reappears as a human woman & weaves her rescuer exceptional silks. Little does he know he loves a crane, who is tirelessly weaving her own feathers into … Read more