Lilith
Lilith
9” X 4”
Mixed media: egg shells, silver
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“He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith began to fight. She said “I will not lie below,” and he said, “I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while am to be in the superior one.” Lilith responded, “We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.” Afraid he would overpower her, Lilith pronounced the Ineffable Name of God and flew away into the air.”
– Ben Sira
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This piece is a depiction of the goddess, Lilith. Gilded and tarnished with hints of dark green patina, and adorned with sterling silver filagree. Her voluptuous form is armless and legless and pregnant - as has historically so often been the way in which a woman’s figure is depicted. But on the inside of one truncated thigh, a small remnant of a bone protrudes, to remind us that she once was whole.
As I created this sculpture, I had been reaching back into antiquity to explore the ancient characterizations of woman. And Lilith was the first…! She was fragile, yet powerful, and she embodied the strength and humour of women. So it seemed only appropriate to construct her entirely from egg shells.​​​
She resides - either wholly or in the deconstructed state - in a large egg shaped case constructed from ostrich and emu shells.
It’s surface is covered with grey stone resin, richly carved and it has been bisected, with one half further cut to form two hinged doors that are locked shut.
There is a small key in the lock which will later be revealed to be her clitoris, and it must be delicately held and turned on more than one occasion, throughout the exploration of this piece.
Upon the opening of the case, Lilith’s many parts are revealed. And as they are removed and pieced together, we are able to experience the reverent journey, of the reconstruction of ‘Goddess’.
She is an artefact. Her gilded form is constructed from chicken, turkey, pheasant and quail eggs, and displays an exposed spine, made from the cored out spirals of tiny snails, giving the appearance of mummification.
Her voluptuous breasts are doors, and they irreverently serve as an Arc of the Covenant, sheltering scrolls in each breast, in the shape of little eggs, that tell the Lilith story.
That the source of the holy writings, and our spiritual nourishment, flows from the most primary source of nourishment - women’s breasts, is further reinforced, as one must first pull on her nipples, to release hidden spring loaded locks and remove the fragments of her narrative. The scrolls may then be unrolled as they reveal the story of Lilith inscribed in Hebrew. Made from tiny hinged and etched sections of quails eggs, they are designed to appear as fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls.
As a woman, her head and heart are intrinsically connected and can be lifted out as a single unit. Her head has been formed from two pheasant eggs - one carefully carved and treated to appear rusted, to depict her hair.
Her mottled gold and silver heart, when detached, can be opened: once full, it is now empty, containing naught but a single glass, tear shaped drop of blood.
Her belly is a threaded cap, which when unscrewed reveals her egg case, made from a quail egg, with mosaic patterns of greys and browns etched into its surface.
Upon opening this little egg, we discover multiple eggs in many stages of cell division, formed from pearls dyed gold and little spheres of silver.
Her vulvar region has been depicted as treasure, with a beautiful fish made of filigree silver.
The clitoris once again, functions as the key and must be gently turned, up by the fishes mouth, to persuade her to open. Once she is unlocked, her bisected body can split open and the reproductive system can be removed as a single unit.
Her vagina is a quail egg, covered in dark green translucent resin and embedded with golden leaves and vines. It can be unthreaded from the uterus, and opened.
Inside, it is depicted as a pomegranate (with the rich deep red seeds formed from glass), and with all its inherent erotic mythology.
From Aphrodite’s beautiful fruit and Persephone’s transgression, to Eve’s first bite of the forbidden fruit (most probably a pomegranate). But nestled amongst the luscious seeds, we discover teeth....Vagina Dentata. And in this case particularly, they are wisdom teeth...!
The uterus is a chicken egg, gilded, and patinaed. It displays Fallopian tubes of silver with ovaries made from small gilded finch eggs and a cervix, which is depicted with four small hinged eggshell doors.
Finally deconstructed, her parts may be returned to her case and locked shut, by the lovely little silver and garnet ornament that is her clitoris.
Photo Credits: Marina Dempster