Dreaming of a Morning Star, 2020, linocut on paper, twine, hessian, steel lantern. 15 x 15 x 28 cm. Images courtesy of the artist.

Phoebe Beard

Dreaming of a Morning Star is the first work in a series of three artworks that examines portrayals of fertility in romantic and religious folklore. Son of Satan and Planet Venus, The Morning Star (known as Lucifer in Latin for the morning appearance of Venus), is a symbol of both light and dark, rising in the east and setting in the west. The embroidered lantern as both a tool and a source of light is historically depicted in the paintings of Gerrit von Honthorst (1592-1656), and Georges de La Tour (1593-1652). Dreaming of a Morning Star takes inspiration from their painted candlelight scenes, adopting their usage of chiaroscuro whilst the image alludes to tales of servitude and personal sacrifices.

The brown four-layer linocut adopts the character of Caiaphus in Honthorst’s Christ before the High Priest (1617); alluding to an exchange between Caiaphas and another person where Caiaphas discusses both his premonitions and his motive to kill Jesus Christ. Christ is depicted on the reverse side, ignited by candlelight, as seen in de La Tour’s St Joseph the Carpenter (1640). The print’s maroon and red colouring denotes Caiaphas’s sinister motives and future premonitions.

Searching for light amid darkness, Dreaming of a Morning Star symbolises a quest between two people. This series was originally inspired by the ‘Morning Star Ceremony’. The ceremony was practiced until the 19 th century by the Skidi band of the Pawnee people, the First Nations people of so-called Kansas and Nebraska. The sculpture and print both trace the lineage between sacrifice and celebration, intrinsic to the history of the scarecrow as an agricultural object and cultural artefact. The lantern is prepared as a funeral object through weaving and thatching straw in order to adorn it. Like all funeral objects, the lantern thus becomes a symbol of longing and loss; sacrificed in the name of the gods.

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Phoebe Beard examines symbols and systems of power, specifically associated with cultivation and community. Phoebe’s artistic practice is informed by romantic and religious folklore. Currently, she has been investigating the cultural associations of wheat throughout history. She is specifically interested in the symbolism and significance of the scarecrow, synonymous with agricultural landscapes and reified as powerful objects through cultural rituals. This research has informed the creation of both print and sculptural works from her studio in Naarm/Melbourne, on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Phoebe has recently exhibited with Quivering in Quarantine, The Wandering Room, Sawtooth ARI and Watch This Space.