2006 · 60 × 80 cm (approx. 24 × 32 in) · Born in the Sky · by Stephen Meakin
There are thirteen constellations through which the ecliptic passes. The Babylonians used twelve, one for each month. Ophiuchus, through which the sun travels for eighteen days between November and December, was left out. It has been the excluded thirteenth ever since.
Ophiuchus is the Serpent Bearer. In Greek mythology, he is Asclepius, son of Apollo, who became so skilled in healing that he could raise the dead. Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt for upsetting the natural order, then placed him in the sky as a constellation, holding a serpent in both hands.
The Rod of Asclepius, a single serpent coiled around a staff, remains the global symbol of medicine. The serpent was chosen because its venom is simultaneously poison and cure. The same substance kills and heals. Asclepius understood that there is no such thing as a toxin that is only a toxin.
Stephen built this painting on a square — the Tibetan mandala palace form, four gates facing four directions, the sacred architecture of the cosmos. Most of his mandalas are circular. This one is not. The excluded constellation demanded a different kind of space.
Stephen described it as his homage to Ophiuchus, the constellation of the serpent bearer and toxin protector.