CREATING A PORTRAIT OF THE GREEK JOAN OF ARC: Laskarina Bouboulina

WHAT IS A MODERN ICON?

October 8, 2023

THE BOUBOULINA PORTRAIT

During the Covid days I would often get contacted by people from overseas. Use of social media as most of us know became heightened and so a broader net was thrown out and more people were likely to come across my work Thats is how the foremost academic on the female Greek revolutionary Laskarina Bouboulina from Baltimore in USA found me via my modern icon series. Our first conversation was lively, enthusiastic and full of promise. It took fruition in the form of a great friendship and continued collaborations and commissioned projects. One significant project was to create the front cover and portrait of Bouboulina for April’s first book in English and dedicated study on her, which also included chapters from 12 academics from around the world. April informed me that this was to be the first ratified depiction of her from a female artist which added to my dedication to the task. My portrait took almost a year of research and conversation, an intense collaborative effort to come up with an image that reflected the critical feminist perspective of the book’s content and given April’s intimate knowledge and depth of study on the subject’s life.

The resulting portrait Laskarina Bouboulina references Byzantine iconography, ancient Greek art, folk costume, and mythology in a combination of historical references and artistic styles. Such a composite and grand gesture seemed fitting for me given the heroine’s epic contribution to modern Greece’s independence. I was conscious from the outset that my depiction was an original interpretation, in the absence of an objective “true” image. Her signature was the most direct essence I had of hers and for this reason I chose to include it in my cover art.

Her features are inspired by a photograph of a female descendant in her early 20’s, a Greek Australian from Sydney. This was another deliberate statement of (relative) authenticity as the majority of portraits painted of her descendants were of men. The classical Greek proportions of her face was a case of ‘divine intelligence’ as I like to say, when things align without conscious thought. I had from the onset of formulating my concept for the portrait, seen her as a figure in line with Greek Mythology, a demi-goddess worthy of Homer’s tales and the art of classically rendered marble statues. The black and white family photographs of the young woman’s mother and grandmother shown in profile and captured in their later years, was another gift. Their chance likeness to the famous portraits painted in profile of Bouboulina, sealed my resolve to use the young woman’s confident gaze, but this time she’s looking head on, straight into the eyes of the world stage and gazing directly at the viewer. Bouboulina’s familiar, heroic portraits depicted her in profile as a captain directing her ship and army of men forward. Metaphorically, this positioned her vulnerable to the other sides of the Revolution, a fact that history itself confirmed. In this new portrait she turns with her eyes 100%… ‘EKATO’ as we say in Greece, fully present and with a defiant, confident stance, hands on hips, pistol at the ready.

Stylistically I have incorporated references to Greek Mythology by painting flames on the angel wings to refer to the mythical phoenix who rises from the flames. The obvious connection is to the phoenix that is depicted on Bouboulina’s very own revolutionary flag, itself a Byzantine reference, but I am also thinking of her resilience and courage, having throughout most of her life survived against the odds and forged her own path. Elements of the sea and the fire fill the canvas- two sides of her personality– at once a tranquil sea captain and diplomat and also a passionate fighter. The embroidered pattern of her scarf is based on Bouboulina’s own scarf, on display at her museum in Spetses. Her skirt is a traditional Spetsitot foustanella, but also reminds us of the classical Greek column, creating continuity with ancient Greek imagery. Green and gold– the predominant colors of the painting, were colors forbidden by the Ottomans to be worn by Hellenes during their occupation. Here, they are symbols of defiance. The halo elevates her to the status saint, and like a Byzantine icon we are asked to hold her in our eternal memory.