Eurydice was a nymph and wife of Orpheus. She had the misfortune to be bitten by a snake and die. Orpheus, renowned for his skill on the lyre, played such sad songs and sang so plaintively that he moved the gods to let him descend to the underworld. Orpheus came down and with his music softened the heart of Hades (the only person who ever succeeded). Hades agreed to allow Eurydice to return to earth with him. But the agreement was that he had to walk ahead of her and not look back until he reached the surface of the earth. In his anticipation he broke his promise and Eurydice disappeared into the underworld forever.

This Eurydice holds agave leaves and asphodels, the death flower of the ancient Greeks since they believed that the dead lived in meadows of asphodels. This woman is a Mexican woman of the Mixtec region, southern Mexico, Oaxaca, 1960s, from the book of the Austrian Irmgard Weitlaner Johnson (1914-2011), who studied the textiles, dyeing and embroidery of Mexico. The woman is dressed in the ceremonial huipil garment. In the original photo, she wears it with one hand in and the other out, which indicates that it was her wedding day. The symbols on it have a special meaning since the time of the Aztecs.

According to the tradition of the region, from the moment someone wore it, she became the center of the world. Women wore it once on their wedding day and saved it for their burial.

Medium: Paper synthesis with handmade Asian papers, painted with watercolor and natural avocado dye.