Jesse Darling’s presentation for Art Basel Miami Beach revolves around the
Greek myth of Tiresias: among other things the origin story of the Rod of Asclepius
(the two-serpent staff currently used to signify medicine and healthcare), as well as an
early written historical account of transgender experience.
Reading Tiresias through Freudian theory, the Derridean pharmakon and the great
Italian folktale known as Dante's inferno, Darling recontextualizes this myth by brea-
king the signifier out of its form into multiple visceral accounts. Through drawings,
sculptures, and copperplate etchings, new and otherworldly renditions of Tiresias
take form for a more contemporary interpretation to emerge.
