Cybele2.0001_Damon

Cybele2.0001_Damon

OGCMA s.v. "Cybele"
Heresies Magazine

Betsy Damon, "The 7000 Year Old Woman", street performance art (depicted at right in New York City, 1977: Performance #2 took place at Prince Street near West Broadway on 21 May 1977 from 1 to 3 pm).

In her street performance, Damon fashioned the appearance of the Artemis of Ephesus, clothing herself in numerous bags of colored flour which she would ritually puncture to release the contents in purposeful patterns onto the street. This "intimate ritual" was intended to "create a female space" in an urban environment that was otherwise bereft of women. (Damon's own words, Heresies) (Cf. Helen Morales Greek Mythology p. 105-108).

Is Damon portraying Artemis of Ephesus or the Eternal Goddess, Cybele?

A woman in a costume made of small bundles stands on a city street, surrounded by onlookers.

The image at left is derived from SVA Library's Heresies magazine vol. 1, no. 3, Fall 1977; photo by Su Friedrich.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300 - 1990's, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.