MYTHS
Kara Porter’s work is inspired by the ancient stories that have been told and retold through the centuries to help us understand the motivations of men and women, and the strengths and frailties of the human spirit. In rhythmic verse and in vibrant painting she introduces us to the stories that the Roman poet Ovid told more than two thousand years ago in his epic poem, ‘Metamorphoses.’
‘When I first read Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses,’ I was a secondary school art teacher. I was immediately struck by how much the book had to say about the transition from childhood to adulthood, I also knew that few young people would find the book accessible, and that is how this project began.’ Kara Porter 2021
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Apollo and Daphne
Apollo mocks the young god Cupid. Cupid, in revenge, fires an arrow, dipped in a love potion at Apollo. Apollo falls in love with Daphne, a young nymph of the forest who is not interested in his advances. To escape Apollo, Daphne turns into a tree.
Cultural References
The Transformation of Io
Io is abducted by Zeus. He hides her from Juno, his wife, by transforming her into a cow. Juno is suspicious and demands to be given the cow as a gift.
Her watchman Argus, who has one-hundred eyes, guards the cow.
Cultural References
Juno and the Peacock
Zeus sends Mercury to kill Argus, Juno's watchman. When Mercury cuts off Argus’s head, all his one hundred eyes roll down the hill. As a tribute, Juno puts the eyes into the feathers of her favourite bird, and so the peacock gets its colourful feathers.
Cultural References
Phaethon
Phaethon has always been told that Apollo is his father. When he is old enough, he set out on a journey to find out if it is true. Apollo, meeting his son for the first time promises him a gift. Phaethon asks to be allowed to drive his chariot, and pull the sun from east to west. The young man cannot manage to control the horses and they crash out of the sky.
Cultural References
Callisto
Callisto is a young hunter, one of Diana’s maids. She has sworn an oath of chastity. When she is raped by Zeus and falls pregnant, Diana casts her out into the forest. She gives birth alone. Her baby is taken from her and she is turned into a bear by jealous Juno. Her son grows up, and while hunting one day comes across the bear. Zeus sweeps them both up and turns them into constellations before the boy can unwittingly kill his mother.
Cultural References
The Raven and the Crow
The raven knows a secret and the little crow warns him that secrets can be dangerous. The proud white raven ignores the crow and tells Apollo that his lover has betrayed him with another man. Apollo in fury kills his lover and immediately regretting what he has done, he blames the raven.
Cultural References
The Envy of Aglauros
Mercury falls in love with Aglauros’s sister Herse but Aglauros is jealous and keeps sending him away. Eventually, Athena becomes angry with Aglauros for her behaviour and goes down into the underworld to tell Envy that Aglouros belongs to her.
Cultural References
The Abduction of Europa
Europa is enchanted by the white bull, and with no idea that this is Zeus in disguise, she climbs up on his back and he carries her along the beach. Suddenly he turns and heads into the waves.
Cultural References
Cadmus
Europa’s brother Cadmus sets sail in search of her. He spends a year searching but finds no trace. He gives up but cannot go home without her. With his men, he looks for a place to stop and settle. When his men are exploring the foreign land, they are all killed by a giant snake. Cadmus is told to plant the serpent’s teeth and new men will grow up like plants.
Cultural References
Diana and Actaeon
Young Prince Actaeon has just completed a successful hunt, killing a huge stag, but he is feeling strangely unsettled. He goes for a walk to ease his mind. He hears a splashing sound and comes, by chance, to Diana’s bathing place. When she discovers that he has seen her naked, she is furious and turns him into a stag.
Cultural References
The Hunt of Actaeon
Diana is furious with Actaeon, the young hunter, when she discovers that he has seen her bathing. She turns him into a stag and he runs away from her, not realising what he has become until it is too late. His own dogs pick up his scent and they hunt him down.
Cultural References
Narcissus and Echo
Narcissus is a beautiful young man, admired by many, but he is proud and self-absorbed. Echo a young nymph, who has been cursed by Juno, (she can only repeat what another has said,) falls in love with Narcissus. He thinks she is mad and rejects her. She pines away, turning to dust. He only discovers what love is when he catches sight of his own reflection in a pool, and because he cannot leave his new love, he too pines away.
Cultural References
Bacchus and the Tuscan Sailors
Some sailors come across the young god of wine lying drunk on an island. They bring him aboard their boat and mock him, telling him they will bring him safely home.
When Bacchus reveals himself in his true form with two huge panthers at his side, the sailors throw themselves into the sea rather than face him. The sailors do not drown but are transformed into dolphins
Cultural References
Pyramus and Thisbe
The young lovers Pyramus and Thisbe, are kept apart because of a disagreement between their families.
They run away together. When Pyramus finds lion prints and his lover’s bloody shawl near the mulberry tree where they agreed to meet, he thinks that she has been killed by the lion. Grief stricken he kills himself with his own sword, and she, unable to live without him, follows him to the grave.
Cultural References
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus
The young nymph, Salmacis, spends her days bathing in her pool. When she falls in love with a passing stranger, and he rejects her, she pulls him down into the water and they emerge, as a single body, neither man, nor woman.
Cultural References
Athamus and Ino
After the death of Bacchus’s mother Semele, Semele’s sister Ino looks after the boy. Ino is very proud of Bacchus as he grows up, and often boasts about his achievements. This boasting insults Juno, wife of Zeus, because Zeus is Bacchus’s father. Juno goes down into the underworld to enlist the help of the snake-haired furies
Cultural References
The Giant, Tityos is Punished
When Juno goes down into the underworld to seek the furies help, she sees how the dead are punished.
A captive giant who had attacked the goddess Leto and was killed by her children, is tied to the ground. Vultures continually peck at his liver.
Cultural References
Tantalus Punished
Tantalus who offended the gods by killing his own son and attempting to serve him up in a feast is forced to stand in a river. He is hungry and thirsty. A tree branch hangs over him full of fruit, but it is just out of his reach and when he tries to drink, the river runs dry.
Cultural References
Sisyphus is Punished
Sisyphus’s who managed to twice cheat death is now forced to continually push a huge rock up a hill. Just as he is about to reach the top, the bolder slips out of his hands and rolls back down, and he has to start again.
Cultural References
The Daughters of Danaus
In the underworld Juno sees the daughters of Danaus, who, obeying their father’s orders, killed their husbands on their wedding night. Their punishment is to constantly run back and forth fetching water, trying in vain to fill up a leaky bath.
Cultural References
Ino is Driven Mad
The witch, Tissiphone, drives Ino’s husband Athamas mad and he attacks their children. In fear and despair, Ino throws herself off a cliff with her own small child in her arms. Her servants try to follow her to their death but are turned into statues made of rock, or into sea birds.
Perseus
Perseus, returns home after having killed Medusa, who’s eyes could turn a man to stone.
He has many adventures on the way. He encounters giants and sea-monsters, saves Andromeda and accidently kills his own grandfather.
Cultural References
Perseus and Atlas
Perseus, on his way home after killing Medusa, seeks a place to rest for the night. The giant Atlas refuses to allow him to rest on his land and hurls a stone at Perseus. Perseus holds up Medusa’s head and turns the giant into stone. Atlas becomes a huge mountain.
Cultural References
Perseus and Andromeda
Perseus is returning home after killing Medusa. On his way he finds the princess Andromeda chained up to a cliff, threatened by a sea monster. The king and queen promise that Perseus can marry Andromeda and have half of their kingdom, if he can kill the sea-monster and save their daughter.
Cultural References
Perseus and Danae
During Perseus and Andromeda’s wedding, Perseus is asked to tell his story. He tells, how he was born in a prison. His mother had been locked away by her own father who feared an oracle that told him, his grandson would one day kill him.
Cultural References
Perseus and the Graeae
When Perseus is discovered by his grandfather, he is thrown into the sea with his mother. They are rescued by a fisherman. Perseus grows up and eventually is sent on the quest to kill the Gorgon. To find the Gorgon he has to ask the Graeae for directions.
Cultural References
The Abduction of Persephone
Persephone is abducted by Pluto, god of the underworld.
Her mother, Ceres, goddess of the soil refuses to let anything grow until her daughter is returned. Eventually Pluto allows Persephone to return to earth for six months of every year. During those six months the earth is fruitful.
Cultural References
Arachne
Arachne challenges Athena to a weaving competition.
When Arachne weaves a better cloth than Athena, full of pictures of gods and heroes. Athena, in fury, destroys Arachne’s work and turns the girl into a spider.
Cultural References
Latona and the Frogs
Latona, cursed by Juno because she is carrying Zeus’s twins, has nowhere to rest. No one will give her food or shelter. When she stops to drink at a small pool after her babies have been born, two rough young men challenge and mock her, and they fill the pool with mud. In retaliation she turns them both into frogs.