Leda and the Swan

The concepts of looking, watching and bearing witness are paramount in Heather B Swann’s sculpture Leda and the Swan 2021. The work proposes a contemporary reading of an ancient Greek myth in which the god Zeus disguises himself as a swan to seduce a princess called Leda. Swann considers how the story’s dimension of sexual violence has often been suppressed or ignored by artists over the centuries in favour of coyly erotic interpretations.

Rather than submitting to the swan or suggestively reclining with it, this Leda stands erect and calmly poised with a resolute gaze. She is modelled on the Korai sculptures of the Archaic Greek period, which depict mysterious female youths who appear not quite of this world. Like them, Swann’s Leda invokes a quality of divine remoteness. According to Swann, she represents ‘the one who watches out for all of us.’

Fascinated by how classical myths evolve and splinter into countless variations over time, Swann’s retelling of Leda and the Swan is yet another variation of the popular story, but one where the persistent undercurrent of sexual surrender is extinguished.