H28 W32cm. Coloured slips, earthenware glaze

Eve, the Tree of Life against her back, is cushioned by the serpent’s coils while his phallus-shaped head nuzzles her ear. Unfettered by imposed religious conscience, she has no reason to resist his allure. Her slanting body emphasises her instability as she abandons herself to the ecstasy of the moment. Behind her back, the diamond adder-pattern of the snake’s head and tail changes to a pentagon, with its connotations of necromancy and the anti-Christ (as well as a symbol of the US military). The potential crutch of the forked branch, representing the duplicitous forked tongue, is insufficient to support her as she heads for the Fall. However, although the serpent’s tail rears unnoticed between her thighs, it is both vulnerable and impotent: without a branch to wrap around the serpent cannot constrict – he can only degrade, not destroy her. The coconut in the breast drawer suggests milk and motherhood. The squeezed nipple is also a symbol of maternity, as Sin is passed down to future generations. Eve, leaves sprouting from her head, is still an essential part of the Tree; she branches in many directions, with a multiplicity of interests and desires, and through the Garden gate there is a whole world waiting for Woman.