“…for the lady of the Labyrinth, a jar of honey.” –tablets, Knossos, 1500BCE

Wearing a white dress, the woman walks the urban labyrinth. She carries a heavy bowl of honey in front of her womb and allows the fine golden thread to trail behind her, a nearly invisible mark. She walks until her bowl is emptied.

The only way out is through.


Inspired by the myth of Ariadne, Laurel Jay Carpenter invokes an updated version of the smitten and deserted goddess into a savvy and powerful icon. In the contemporary feminist readings of this myth, Ariadne’s arrival on the island of Naxos serves as a symbol of midlife transformation, stepping into her power as she decides between following her own intuition toward happiness or following a fated decree. The woman does not give the thread away; she does not wait to be abandoned then rescued. Here, the woman is simultaneously creating the symbolic maze by marking its parameters, and unmaking the maze by illuminating the path. She is thereby remaking herself.

LUMEN Festival, Staten Island, 2011. Curated by Grace Exhibition Space