The story began with Tanit and Parthenope meeting. Drawing a figure that could bring them together took longer. Simona had chosen two powerful figures, each with a history of her own. Both needed room in the same drawing.
Before the first drawing
She began by looking closely at their images. For Parthenope, that meant two-tailed sirens and the different ways they had been drawn. For Tanit, it meant her geometric sign and the figures associated with her.
The University of Barcelona’s collection of printers’ devices includes crowned sirens used by Antonio Bulifon. Research on winged figures associated with Tanit, meanwhile, shows how much some identifications are still debated. [1] [2]
Simona wanted a figure she could turn into a piece of jewellery. The siren had to keep her two tails, but Tanit also had to be recognisable in that same body. Adding a sign to an existing image wasn’t enough.
The first attempt
Her first test put the two images straight together: a figure carved in stone, laid over a two-tailed siren. You can still see the edges of the photograph. Looking at the collage now, you can see where the work began: two images that still needed to become one.
Trying different drawings
Commissioned designs followed. In the two shown here, the tails, raised arms, sun and moon return, but the faces, proportions and lines are different. Each is an attempt to bring the same elements together.
The difficulty was giving both figures a place. Parthenope brought the connection to Naples and the two-tailed siren; Tanit brought Ibiza and another set of signs. They needed to be recognisable within one figure, rather than looking like two images placed on top of each other.
The illustration behind La Moneta
The first approved illustration shows two tails covered in scales, raised hands and a triangle on the chest. The sun and moon sit above the figure. Gold and blue run through the drawing and the water beneath her.
Simona used this illustration to draw the coin. The collage and earlier designs are still in the archive. Together, they show how many attempts it took to arrive at the figure you can now hold in your hand.
Creative process: Sirendipity archive materials and Simona’s account of the first collage, commissioned designs and approved illustration.
[1] CRAI Universitat de Barcelona, Antonio Bulifon, Marques d’impressors.