ACTAEON. - 2017

[Chicago]:: Hannah Batsel/,, 2017 / 2021.. Edition of 70 (50 regular; 20 special).. Small page spreads measure 12.25" x 18". Two large foldout spreads measure 12.25 x 36". Printed on Mohawk Superfine paper in the summer of 2017 at Spudnik Press in Chicago. All illustrations original linoleum cuts drawn and carved by H. M. Batsel. Colophon and title page designed by Drue McCurdy. Bound in drum-leaf style. Case wrapped in a hand-colored linoleum print. Numbered and signed by the artist. Hannah Batsel: "This book is an illustrated retelling of the Greek myth of Actaeon, a skilled hunter who, on a hunt with his pack of dogs, stumbles upon the goddess Artemis and her retinue bathing in the forest. Artemis, enraged that Actaeon has seen her bathing, transforms him into a stag; he is quickly dispatched by his own hunting dogs. "In this version, Actaeon does not turn into a stag, but rather receives the treatment given to so many slasher film starlets: he becomes both victim of torment and erotic pinup. As Actaeon runs through the forest, his clothes are ripped from him until he is stripped naked before the gaze of the reader, seemingly enlightened by his rapturous suffering. This is an ancient tale of a man punished for violating the privacy and dignity of a woman, resurrected and subverted for a modern-day society in which such infractions are still going unpunished.