Three Jacquard-woven cotton tapestries, Huluppu Tree 200 × 150 cm, side panels 150 × 80 cm each, created in collaboration with The Most, Poland, commissioned by Krupa Art Foundation, Wrocław, for the exhibition My Memory Isn’t Mine, 2024.
the sun lays down at the foot of the walls
the sky tilts to the West
the earth trembles once more
and vomits a black cloud on the sands
we are in hell.
I was born tomorrow.
— Etel Adnan
The outer tapestries explore the tale of Inanna’s descent into the Underworld.
Descending into the Underworld, Inanna has to go through seven gates, where at each one she must shed something: a crown, jewels, her royal garments, symbols of her earthly power and divine authority. Arriving at last before the presence of Ereshkigal, she is naked and vulnerable, having lost all that made her what she once was.
Ereshkigal, indifferent, fastened the ‘Eye of Death’ on Inanna.
Now in the Underworld, Inanna is dead; her body is impaled on a hook. Above, there is havoc, as the goddess of fertility, love and prosperity is gone from this world. Eventually her attendant goes to the gods for assistance; the gods agree and bargain for her freedom. Ultimately someone, some god, must take her place, and it is Inanna and Ereshkigal who agree to send Dumuzi, Inanna’s consort, down to the Underworld in her stead.
The middle tapestry is dedicated to the myth of Inanna and the Huluppu tree, which is sometimes equated with the tree of life and world tree of Eridu in Mesopotamian cosmology. Its roots reach the underworld, its crown touches the sky and houses the sun. Inanna found the tree uprooted by a storm and planted it in her garden. When she wanted to cut it down to build a bed and a throne, she found she could not, because mythical beings had nested in it: the Anzu bird, the ghost girl Lilith and the unenchantable snake. Finally the hero Gilgamesh offers his help, drives the beings away and fells the tree so that Inanna can fulfil her wishes. This is followed by the story of another descent into the underworld, by Gilgamesh’s friend and companion Enkidu.
Symbols such as the eye, the egg and flora invite cyclical narratives of descent, transformation and return. While rooted in mythology, the work resists linearity, instead guiding the viewer through layered visual cultures that unfold through repetition, symmetry and patient perception.
To descend is to become undone.
To arrive is to re-justify the self.
To return is to be sacrosanct.
the sky tilts to the West
the earth trembles once more
and vomits a black cloud on the sands
we are in hell.
I was born tomorrow.
— Etel Adnan
The outer tapestries explore the tale of Inanna’s descent into the Underworld.
Descending into the Underworld, Inanna has to go through seven gates, where at each one she must shed something: a crown, jewels, her royal garments, symbols of her earthly power and divine authority. Arriving at last before the presence of Ereshkigal, she is naked and vulnerable, having lost all that made her what she once was.
Ereshkigal, indifferent, fastened the ‘Eye of Death’ on Inanna.
Now in the Underworld, Inanna is dead; her body is impaled on a hook. Above, there is havoc, as the goddess of fertility, love and prosperity is gone from this world. Eventually her attendant goes to the gods for assistance; the gods agree and bargain for her freedom. Ultimately someone, some god, must take her place, and it is Inanna and Ereshkigal who agree to send Dumuzi, Inanna’s consort, down to the Underworld in her stead.
The middle tapestry is dedicated to the myth of Inanna and the Huluppu tree, which is sometimes equated with the tree of life and world tree of Eridu in Mesopotamian cosmology. Its roots reach the underworld, its crown touches the sky and houses the sun. Inanna found the tree uprooted by a storm and planted it in her garden. When she wanted to cut it down to build a bed and a throne, she found she could not, because mythical beings had nested in it: the Anzu bird, the ghost girl Lilith and the unenchantable snake. Finally the hero Gilgamesh offers his help, drives the beings away and fells the tree so that Inanna can fulfil her wishes. This is followed by the story of another descent into the underworld, by Gilgamesh’s friend and companion Enkidu.
Symbols such as the eye, the egg and flora invite cyclical narratives of descent, transformation and return. While rooted in mythology, the work resists linearity, instead guiding the viewer through layered visual cultures that unfold through repetition, symmetry and patient perception.
To descend is to become undone.
To arrive is to re-justify the self.
To return is to be sacrosanct.