One of twelve images from my Saints Reimagined project, and the only one to feature two saints.
Anne and Elizabeth are collectively the patrons of grandmothers, mothers, pregnant women, and involuntarily childless women.
St. Anne is the mother of Mary, and Elizabeth is the cousin of Mary and mother of John the Baptist. Together, they are icons of motherhood, broadly defined: mothers, grandmothers, aunts and great aunts.
Elephants raise their young in multi-generational matriarchal groups. Mothers, grandmothers, aunts and great aunts raise the young collectively. In the event something happens to a child’s mother, the other females will take care of the orphan. In much the same way, Anne and Elizabeth are supporting the efforts of mothers (and fathers) of all sorts.
Their feast days are July 26th for Anne and November 5th for Elizabeth.
This 12"x 9" image is hand-printed on a 20" x 16" sheet of cotton rag Hahnemuhle etching paper and is one of an edition of 30.