Aletheia and the Bedtime Story

Aletheia and the Bedtime Story, my monotype print (1/1), will exhibit in ”On Being Human”,  At Roby King Gallery on Bainbridge Island, Sept. 3-26, 2021.  Link here to the gallery and more of my work on display at Roby King.

Myths and Fables are often read and told as entertainment, but as we know, the truth is in the telling and the power of truth, we hope, wins out.  My print is a bit of a visual pun on the name Aletheia, who was the Greek Goddess of truth, truth revealed, the naked truth… she is more familiar in Latin as Veritas.  Aesop, who’s teaching stories inspired my latest “fable” print series, tells two fables about the Goddess of Truth, Aletheia.

In one, a man traveling in the wild discovers Aletheia living alone, far from civilization and asks her why she dwells in the wilderness.  She replies, “ Among the people of old, only a few told and repeated lies, but now those who lie exist throughout all of human society! ”  From this fable we learn that truth lives separate from societal opinion, gossip, (facebook) or group conduct.

In another of Aesop’s fables, Prometheus the sculptor and inventor, he who shaped the first generation of women and men from clay and after gave them fire, also created Aletheia.  She was intended to exemplify truth revealed, a way to decide disputes and in the long course of history help regulate human behavior and exist as a foundation for our laws.  Prometheus, while at work on Aletheia, was called to Olympus and so left his new assistant Dolus (Trickery) in charge of his workshop.  Dolus for his own purposes and in Prometheus’s absence, fashioned an identical copy of Aletheia, or it would have been identical, but he ran out of clay while shaping her feet.

Prometheus, upon his return, was amazed at the similarity of the two figures and decided to place both statues in the kiln.  When they had been thoroughly baked, he infused them both with life. 

Sacred Aletheia (Truth) walked with measured, sure steps, but her unfinished twin who had no feet, could not walk at all. That forgery, that product of subterfuge, thus acquired the name Pseudologos, (Falsehood).

The lesson of this story is- Something that is false may start off successfully, but in time only truth shall prevail.

Aletheia and the Bedtime Story, is a monotype print (1/1),  Image 11.5 x 31.5, Frame 20.5” x 40”, $1,200.