In mythology, Manto was the daughter of Tiresias, a prophet who was turned into a woman as punishment. Upon becoming a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, the goddess of fertility and bounty. Hera is often depicted with a pomegranate.
My depiction of Manto, like The Empress Tarot and Hera, is surrounded by nourishment of the forest and mountains. She holds a crystal ball in place of a pomegranate, seeing into the future. There is hope, as shown by the fawn in her lap. Hidden behind her is the constellation Libra, representing balance.
This piece began as a reflection of my experience eating a fallow deer in the place where that same deer lived. It battles my own feelings on animal consumption, despite the deer being ethically sourced and the whole body being used. There is a balance in hunting and gathering your own food that I wanted to show, but at the same time humanize and elevate the deer as a reminder of the cost of a life.
An illustrator and game developer, Jessica creates work that communicates realities beyond our own. This includes influences from the occult, esotericism, folklore, mythology, and nature. She works in both digital and traditional media.
In addition to being a game artist and an illustrator, Jessica is also the founder of Sassy Chicken LLC, which she uses to focus on the development of her story (and video game) Bear Who Paints.
Her interests beyond creating are drinking ciders, petting her dog, reading history books, and watching Bigfoot documentaries.
This is a gallery-quality giclée art print on 100% cotton rag archival paper, printed with archival inks. Each art print is listed by sheet size and features a minimum one-inch border.
