ARTSFEST 2021

We were tasked in the Painting of Gods and Goddesses workshop to depict ourselves in mythology for our project. Rather than create a new myth, I chose to interpret myself as a character in an existing myth - Hephaestus. Hephaestus is depicted in traditional mythology as the lame god of forge and flame, son of Zeus and Hera but an outcast among the Gods. According to one greek tradition, Hephaestus was cast down from Mount Olympus after getting into an argument with Zeus and became mortal. As a mortal, he learned of the fire and the forge and became a master craftsman before the other gods of the pantheon begged for his return. He eventually ascended again to godhood but only after taking a bit of revenge on the gods who had made him mortal.
Personally, I self insert Hephaestus in this story as someone who was often outcast and bullied in school. From a very early age, I enjoyed working with my hands and building things. I learned to weld at 13 and could use mills and lathes by 15. This often drew the ire of my classmates and I was bullied because of it. In my illustration, I depict this with Hephaestus clinging to a thin and broken rope connecting him to Olympus. The combined weight of Hephaestus and his craft (the anvil) snapped the rope, and he could have remained in Olympus had he given up either but chose instead to fall to the mortal world. In much the same way I could have given up my craft and been better treated but doing so would have been giving up a part of myself that I wouldn't allow happening.
My writing of the story very closely follows the mythology but reimagines Hephaestus as being far more inclined to want to spend his time with mortals than with gods. This very closely mirrors a thread of my life where I spent most of my time in school with the less popular kids because I believed them more capable and genuine than the “gods” of the schoolyard.