< GROUND SWELL
SUNLIGHT FALLS
D’Alton Falls* | Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park | Tasmania | Australia
Sunlight Falls**
Scott Bennett| 2022 | Chalk & charcoal on linen | 40″ x 30″ | Private collection
*This drawing was inspired by a photograph of D’Alton Falls taken my Mark Hanna.
Mnemosyne
“Mnemosyne [Pronounced “m-n-eem-aw-s-EEN-ee”] in Greek mythology, is the goddess of memory. A Titaness, she was the daughter of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth), and, according to Hesiod, the mother (by Zeus) of the nine Muses.” – Britannica
Mnemosyne is the goddess of words and language as she invented them. Because she remembers everything since the beginning of time she is also a minor goddess of time. She is also the patron of poets and the goddess of sight and writing.
Pool of Memory
Mnemosyne presided over a pool in the afterworld, counterpart to the river Lethe. Souls drank from the Lethe so they would forget their past lives when reincarnated. Those that drank too much forgot everything; those that drank no more than required continued to remember something of their pasts.
In Orphism, the initiated were taught to instead drink from the Mnemosyne – the river of memory, which could give complete remembrance, thus ending the cycle of rebirth.
**Sunlight Falls was the working title, it comes from the song Orpheus by David Sylvian which was on my mind.
“He’s the beautifulest
Fragilest still strong
Dark and divine
And the littleness of his movements
Hides himself
Invents a charm
That makes him invisible
Hides in the air
Can I hide there too
Hide in the air of him
Seek solace
Sanctuary…
Oh, in a hidden place
We’ll live in a hidden place
We’ll be in a hidden place
In a hidden place”
– Björk Hidden Place
You say you’ll give me
Eyes in a moon of blindness
A river in a time of dryness
A harbor in the tempest
But all the promises we make
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you
– U2 All I Want is You
“Sunlight falls, my wings open wide
There’s a beauty here I cannot deny…
…Tell me, I’ve still a lot to learn
Understand, these fires never stop…“
– David Sylvian Orpheus