SHANA JAMES - Tumbling Crocus

Tumbling Crocus 

In this Linocut, I chose of the crocus flower from Madeline Miller’s Circe. In the novel, the crocus is a reoccurring symbol of transformation. It is the flower from which Circe brews her first spell—an act that awakens her power and alters the course of her life.

Scattered among the crocuses is a single aconite flower, a plant associated with danger and poison. Its presence introduces a subtle counterpoint both visually and symbolically.

In this linocut, the flowers appear scattered and tumbling, their placement intentionally unstructured. The carving of the linocut blocks echo’s the labour and repetition of spell-making itself. The resulting image holds a sense of captured motion, a suggestion that these small, unassuming flowers carry the weight of transformation and the blurred boundary between the everyday and the divine.