In 1977, Romare Bearden created a series of collages based on Homer’s epic poem Odyssey. Rich in symbolism and allegorical content, Bearden weaves together African-American culture and classical mythology. His works make us consider how constructing self-identities can be a universal theme for all humans. To celebrate his contribution, let’s take a look at one work from Bearden’s Odyssey Series—Circe’s Domain.

Who are you? A Journey to Identity

Different from the original text, Bearden reimagines the fictional world of the Odyssey by making all of the Homeric characters black and remodeling the environment after Caribbean landscapes. The new setting hinders us from identifying the stories at first glance. Why does he distance us from the story we are familiar with? It is obvious that Bearden attempts to alienate us from passive acceptance of the old epic. The alienation techniques Bearden employs derive from Bertolt Brecht’s theory, which refers to the concept of making the familiar strange. The goal is to provoke critical audience responses to the universality in Odyssey. 

When I first looked at Circe’s Domain, I was drawn in by the male figure sitting on the pinnacle of the purple house. His claw hands and washed-out color suggest that he has already begun to morph into a swine. His tears burst forth, spilling down his face. The crying is the sound of a broken heart from a man who can never go back home. His fellows, at the lower left of collage, desperately watch him changing but cannot offer any help.

Compared to Homer’s Odyssey, Bearden emphasizes the pain of this particular individual. This individualized narrative allows us to focus on this man and resonate with his suffering. It is very different from how Homer deals with this detail. In Homer’s Odyssey, Circe turns all of Odysseus’s men except Eurylochus into swine. Losing the sense of being human, the men squeal in desperation. Homer portrays the group’s suffering, suggesting that for him depictions of collective emotions are more powerful. 

The issue of becoming swine is not only losing home memory but also losing one’s identity. Why does Bearden bring the concept of origins and identities? To answer this question, we need to learn more about his life. When Bearden created the Odyssey series, the African American community was shifting and fragmenting, just like Odysseus’s identity was because he, too, was wandering, mourning, and searching for home. Home, an identity of belonging, is distant and threatened for both African Americans and Odysseus. Bearden layers his experiences as an African American over Homer’s story, shaping a Western epic into a global tale that resonates more with audiences from different cultures.

Circe: a Civic Right Movement Leader?

Bearden was fully aware of the stereotypical images of Black people in Greek arts.  He normalizes the Black images by depicting all figures in the Odyssey equally as Africans. In Homer’s epic, Circe is drastically othered: not Greek, not goddess, not mortal. Though Homer offers no evidence of Circe’s color, ancient Greeks stigmatized African females to this othered being. The image below is Circe and Odysseus on a piece of Greek pottery. Notice the African features of Circe, who stands on the left: her snub nose and thick lips are distinctive from the typical European facial features of Odysseus who stands on the right.

To reconstruct the images of Africans, Bearden presents a variety of female Circes in his collages. Some Circes are powerhouse women dressed in African garb like Bearden’s mother, who played an active role in civic movements for African Americans, while others are more gentle. 

In Circe’s Domain, the small woman standing at the crying man’s knee is Circe. She doesn’t look like an archetypal Circe who is powerful and sexual. Bearden makes Circe smaller than we expected her to be since she is the main character, but he enlarges her impact by exaggerating the crying man’s pain. Compared to Homer’s Odyssey, Bearden shifts the narrative’s focus from Circe to the poor man who cannot go back home. It suggests again that the main focus of this collage is a journey home to identities, not evil Circe. 

Bearden welcomes us to make our own interpretations. He doesn’t explicitly demonstrate who the three figures in the collage’s top half are. Are those at left and center incarnations of Circe secretly observing her domain? Or do they represent the gods observing and judging from their Olympian windows? Who is the man at the top right? Is he Eurylochos or Odysseus? All guesses are welcomed.

If you are interested in creating your own Odyssey, check out the Romare Bearden Black Odyssey Remixes App. In this app, you can remix works from Bearden’s original series to create your own collages and express your personal Odyssey. It’s time for all of us to reconsider our identities and journey back home!

Author: Hi! I’m Eliza Ge, a sophomore student at Colgate University. My majors are in Art and Art History and Anthropology. I hope my college journey will nurture my intellectual curiosity and spark passion for the academic field. If you are interested in my article and want to discuss it with me, contact me at yge@colgate.edu.