We’re still neck deep in research for this project- it contains so much content to navigate: racial injustice, childhood abandonment, fascination with ‘otherness’, notions of the afterlife, etc. etc. In the midst of writing and reading, sometimes you just want to draw. Here are some messy attempts at Hearn’s Greek mother, Rosa, who abandoned Hearn when he was 2. She’s a mystery to us because there are no photos of her, but we know that she was an extremely sensual and earthy woman, also a devout worshipper who combined superstition with intense Greek orthodoxy. I imagine her with loose hair and a unibrow for some reason.
Rosa was left, pregnant with her third child by Charles Hearn, in Ireland with his aunt, while he repeatedly left on military posts. I imagine that she often raged over this.
Rosa eventually died in an asylum, after a nervous breakdown, at the age of 49. I can see her looking tired, frightened and confused during her later years, a truly tragic figure.