2022
Charcoal on paper
This large-scale charcoal work was SOLD during Sarah’s exhibition in the Western Highlands in June 2023 – many congratulations Sarah!
In mythology, Persephone represents the life force of spring’s renewal of all natural life. She disappears from the earth when seed is put into the ground to die, to flourish again as the earth is warmed by the sun. She is present in every life-turning of the season toward spring and summer – a richness reflected in Sarah Longley’s artwork teeming with life. The curves of Persephone’s body are echoed in the hills in the upper section of the artwork, hills ever-present near the artist’s home in the Western Highlands of Scotland. Visitors to Sarah’s solo show in 2019 may recognise Angel Hill with its gravestones. In a moving cross-reference to her drawing Otter in this exhibition, Persephone lies alongside the buried animal.
‘. . . The bat folds its wing like a winter leaf, / The squirrel in its hollow holds aloof. / … / The weasel and ferret, the stoat and fox / Move hand in glove across the equinox. . . . ‘ – from Persephone by Michael Longley, in Homer’s Octopus
