The Voice of the Sibyl

The story goes that the Sibyl of Cumae kind of traded her virginity to Apollo for an approximation of eternal life (as many years as there were grains of sand in her hands).  When he came to collect, however, she refused him.  Angered, he took away eternal youth, which he had granted as a rider along with her years.  Her body shriveled to dust which hung in a jar in her cave at Cumae, but her voice, and her power of prophecy, remained strong.  She was a favorite guide to the land of the dead, the entrance of which was near her cave.

The installation consists of suspended hand-dyed silk enclosures, Io moth cocoons and live moths, the sound of gentle breathing, and 100% Accurate Topographical Maps to the Land of the Dead, of various sizes, made with gold and metal leaf with pure pigment on both board and paper.