Klotho Morai by Bonita J Johnston

Klotho is one of three Greek Fates, women goddesses who did not have to answer to Zeus. She was the goddess of the birth of all things, including creativity.

Bonita J Johnston

Klotho Morai

crochet yarn on rug backing for support

75 x 16 x 16 in

Klotho Moirai, a feminized version of a Greek column feels touchable, huggable, unlike the cold marble of traditional columns. Klotho is the goddess of birth in Greek Mythology—one of the three fates or Moirai, she was also known as the “spinner.”
Klotho bore responsibility for the birth of all things, including abstract things like ideas. Klotho spun yarn to create all that exists. Half her face is taken from an oil painting of the first person to show me the possibilities of art. The other half of her face is made from yarn just like Klotho used to make the world. A repeated rainbow fills the body of the piece, meant to signify the acceptance and joy of all creation. Klotho’s heart bears all colors of light. At the bottom of the piece I painted Bosch-like body parts awaiting their construction into living beings. Rather than standing on the ground, this column hangs from the ceiling or skies and is lit from within. Her pedestal and her capital provide decoration for the bottom and top of the shaft without serving as scaffolding.
The Moirai or Fates were said to use power by their own choice, even Zeus could not control them. I felt Klotho and the Fates apply very much to the current arising culture of women. She stands strange and intimidating, yet touchable and filled with light.
This piece combines modern, folk, and traditional forms of art into something new. Pushing boundaries between mediums, imagery, and methods, allowing all to co-exist.

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Additional Details

Additional Artworks

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Part three of triptych)

Ghost of Christmas Past (Part one of Ghost triptych)

Doctor B. J. Eckleburg

Black Girl Magic

Ghost of Christmas Present (Part two of triptych)

Auntie Jean

I Got You, Babe

Cezanne's Mountain