Underworld Deities.

Madea's Choice, mixed media on paper, 40"x25"

Madea helped Jason on his quest to get the Golden Fleece. One legend says that she killed her brother, cut up his body and threw it on the islands as the Argo passed knowing that her father would stop to pick up the pieces allowing Jason to escape. Another legend says that her brother was killed when pursuing Jason. Jason later left her for a younger richer woman and Euripedes writes that she murdered her children in revenge when earlier legends say that other people did it.

Male writers through the ages have been sympathetic to Jason's plight and painted Madea as a criminal. Naturally, I feel sympathy for her. She couldn't get her own boat to sail off and have adventures. She was dependent on someone to help her. She relied on Jason for survival and he let her down, perhaps for his own survival.

This painting is about her choice to leave home and go adventuring, before she had to pay the price for her unfeminine desires. I imagine the open sea before her, the wind in her hair and the prospect of freedom.