At the Crossroads (England’s Dark Dreaming № 14)

This is the fourteenth large-scale charcoal drawing in my England’s Dark Dreaming series.

The Ancient Greek goddess Hekate is connected with crossroads as well as with magic (her most famous priestess, Medea, has been the subject of some of my earlier artwork), and the figure in this drawing can be seen in part as an interpretation of that mythological character.

The character in this drawing was first portrayed with fair hair in the earlier drawing In the Woods. Now she has transformed into Hekate, taking on a more mythic role. She reappears in The Procession, Part II and finally, returning to her original state in Departure/The Midnight Shore.

Crossroads are places of decision and changes of direction. They represent liminality and so frequently appear in folklore and superstition.

The atemporality of the series is briefly thrown by the inclusion of a contemporary roadsign and traces of headlights on the roads in the background.