Artwork description:

Linocut inspired by Dante's 'The Divine Comedy' written just before his death in 1321, it consists of three parts—Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Divine Comedy is a long poem recounting the author’s journey among the damned in hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. Later, he is reunited with his beloved, Beatrice, who guides him up to purgatory, and then to Paradise, where, in a moment of ecstasy, Dante glimpses God. Although it recounts an actual physical journey, The Divine Comedy is also an allegory of the soul’s progress through sin (hell), penitence (purgatory), and redemption (paradise), the last being the joyful ending promised in the title.

At the beginnning of the author's journey - he is lost in a forest, and he describes the sun as being silent.

On doing research I discovered that there was a period when the sun was in fact silent...

The Maunder minimum is an unexplained period of drastically reduced sunspot activity that occurred between 1645 and 1715.

The Maunder minimum coincided with the coldest part of the “Little Ice Age” (c. 1500–1850) in the Northern Hemisphere, when the Thames River in England froze over during winter, Viking settlers abandoned Greenland, and Norwegian farmers demanded that the Danish king recompense them for lands occupied by advancing glaciers.

Completed just before Dante died in 1321,

In naming his lifework Comedy, Dante employs an understanding of the word that means a narrative with a happy ending, unrelated to humor.

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Materials used:

Gold Ink printed on Japanese paper and adhered onto Somerset paper