Subtle Ascendance by Jennifer Bruce

Title:	Subtle Ascendance
Date Created:	June 2025
Copyright:	© Jennifer Bruce
Genre:	Unpublished Art
Mediums:	Watercolor, Gouache
Views:	107
Posted:	11/25/2025

Location: Michigan

From the myth of Hades and Persephone - here we see an older Persephone freed - she has found herself and has put in the work to heal from her trauma. In the myth, eating food from the Underworld will make the person eating it unable to leave. I've used that in this context to represent how abuse affects the minds of victims, chaining them to continued trauma and suffering throughout their lives. Here, the pomegranate seeds can be seen, she has spit them out and escaped her abuser. The pomegranate itself - a symbol of bondage - has been transformed by her struggle into a beautiful crystalline geode.