Left: Male Figure before a Goddess Drawing Aside Her Mantle, Syria, ca. 1720-1650 BC. Cylinder seal: hermatite. Acquired by Pierpont Morgan between 1885 and 1908, Morgan Seal 945
Right: Emmet Gowin (American, b. 1941), Edith in Panama, Blakeian Conversation, 2007. Gold toned salt print on handmade paper. Collection of Emmet and Edith Gowin
In this print from the “Edith in Panama” series, Gowin’s wife sits in a chair, holding a larger-than-life silhouette of her head in one hand and a small tracing of herself and Emmet in the other. The “doubling” of Edith allows her to occupy multiple places and scales at once, as occurs in the narrative world of mythology.
The goddess in this ancient seal impression opens a garment to reveal her pubic area, a gesture alluding to the primal power of fertility and birth. A mortal man lifts a hand to his mouth, astonished at the truth being revealed to him.