As with most ancient stories there are slightly different versions of the Pandora tale but the most salient facts that appealed to Elizabeth Jorn are summed up in this following version.
In Greek mythology Pandora (which means “all gifted”) was the first women on Earth.
She was sent to earth, by the Greek chief god Zeus, with a box that she was instructed not to open. Eventually Pandora’s curiosity overcame her caution and she opened the box thus releasing all the negative, evil things of the world that had been sealed in the box. When Pandora realized what she had done she tried to slam the lid shut but everything had escaped only hope was left……
“Whatever evils are abroad hope never entirely leaves us and while we have that no amount of other ills can make us completely wretched.”
Hope is often represented as a butterfly and in our sculpture inside the corner of the box that Pandora is holding is a simple stylized butterfly etched into the bottom of the box.
Like a butterfly hope is a fragile, precious thing so we also like the fact that the words ‘hope left’ in the sculptures title have a double meaning, one positive and one negative, to remind us of the value of hope.