The Archon Portraits

ByVeronica Leandrez

This is a series of contemporary male portraits that reimagines the ancient Gnostic idea of the Archon through the faces of figures who have come to embody particular forms of masculine power in the modern world. To see my other work visit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/verosl/albums/ In Gnostic cosmology, the archons are rulers of the planetary spheres: intermediary powers standing between humanity and the transcendent divine source. They govern not only a physical cosmos, but also the forces that shape human consciousness—desire, identity, conflict, communication, authority, illusion, limitation, and fate. This series relocates that cosmology into the present. The portraits are therefore not intended as literal statements about the people depicted. They are archetypal transformations—using recognizable contemporary faces to ask what these archonic powers look like in our own world right now.

5 artwork(s)