Birth of Athena

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Whitehall

Chris Ofili has long been inspired by mythology and classical texts and has mined these stories to create significant bodies of work. These include his monumental suite of paintings and works on paper inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which were exhibited at the National Gallery in 2012, sets for Diana & Actaeon for the Royal Ballet and more recently, his tapestry The Caged Bird’s Song, 2017, which wove classical references with aspects of contemporary Trinidadian life to create a new mythological landscape.

This suite of prints were created as illustrations for Greek Myths: A new retelling, published in 2021. This book by the journalist and author Charlotte Higgins put the relevant female characters, and the metaphor of weaving, at the centre of the action in a retelling of well-known Greek myths. The myths included those of the creation, of Heracles and Theseus and Perseus, the Trojan War and its origins and aftermaths, tales of Thebes and Argos and Athens, stories of love and desire, adventure and magic, destructive gods, helpless humans, fantastical creatures, resourceful witches and the origins of birds and animals. Unlike in many previous recounts, female characters take centre-stage – Athena, Helen, Circe, Penelope and others weave these stories into elaborate imagined tapestries.

Chris Ofili was born in Manchester and studied at Chelsea School of Art from 1988 to 1991. While studying for his MA at the Royal College of Art in 1992, he was awarded the British Council travel scholarship to Zimbabwe. Of Nigerian descent, Ofili found in Zimbabwe an opportunity to reconsider his own identity at home in Britain and how he was perceived abroad. He began to incorporate elephant dung and decorative dots into his canvases, as well as drawing on a variety of influences from Black British culture, including magazines, music and mainstream media. Ofili was included in the influential Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1997. He had a major exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 1998, and won the Turner Prize the same year. Ofili was the first Black artist to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2002. His work is held in international collections including the Tate Collection and he was appointed CBE in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to art. Ofili moved to Trinidad in 2005 and now divides his time between the Caribbean, London and New York.

Places

Subjects

mythology, Greek mythology, goddess

Materials & Techniques

print (as object name), digital print, giclée, cotton paper, Somerset Satin

Artist

Chris Ofili (1968 - )

Title

Birth of Athena

Portfolio Title

Greek Myths

Edition

Number 1 in an edition of 500

Date

2021

Medium

giclee black and white print on paper

Dimensions

height: 29.7 cm; width: 21.0 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Victoria Miro, March 2022

Provenance

Victoria Miro, London UK; from whom purchased by UK Government Art Collection, 28 March 2022

GAC number

19044/2