Zina: Goddess of the Winds

About the Artwork

Zina: Goddess of the Winds is a contemporary figure that emerged from my ongoing exploration of mythology, the female body, and the possibility of creating new myths. Zina is not a representation of an ancient goddess, but rather an image of a contemporary woman who moves through wind and storm and claims her life on her own terms. The figure, with its flowing garment and soft, fluid folds, draws on the contemporary female body and its relationship to clothing, while simultaneously recalling the classical sculptures of ancient Greece, where fabric appears to flow over the body like silk. The work is rooted in my engagement with Goethe’s poetry and ideas in the West-Eastern Divan, translating the human encounter with wind, time, and transformation into the language of sculpture. The 16 cm bronze version of Zina: Goddess of the Winds was exhibited at Didi Art Museum in Izadshahr, Iran. Smaller versions of the same figure were presented as art buttons attached to garments as part of the interdisciplinary project The Tale of Buttons and Stitches, exhibited in Bremen, Germany, and Rome, Italy. For me, Zina is a contemporary myth: an image of a woman who has passed through the storms of life and continues to stand.