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The Colossus, Declassified
The Colossus, Declassified
2006
16 w by 7 inches h
Digital Painting/photo collage
Based on a photo from the “Hanford Historical Photo Declassification Project”.
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The Colossus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, a gigantic statue holding up a torch at Rhodes, near its harbor. Its dedicatory inscription is said to have read, "To you, O Sun, the people of Dorian Rhodes set up this bronze statue reaching to Olympus when they had pacified the waves of war and crowned their city with the spoils taken from the enemy. Not only over the seas but also on land did they kindle the lovely torch of freedom."
The Statue of Liberty, of course, is modeled on the idea of the Rhodian Colossus.
In conjunction with images to do with Fire Prevention Week in the Hanford Declassification Project are several photos of a veiled woman.
The veiled woman in close up.
The shoes identify the veiled Miss Flame as the one below walking the devil offstage at pitchfork's point, some bit of theater put on to instruct on the dangers of, perhaps, smoking in bed, as another photo shows a man in bed with a cigarette and the devil overlooking.
I don't know of these were pictures of the woman in a veil were just taken for the fancy of the photographer (perhaps inspired by Magritte?) or if the veil was used in another theatrical presentation or was a part of the woman's costume. But the photos of the veilied woman caught my imagination and for some reason a broken Colossus came to mind.
At any rate, for decades these photos of the veiled woman were classified information.
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