DELILAH: A MATTER OF MONEY

Women in history and in the Bible have often been portrayed as flat characters, either scarlet women or virgins. In the story of Samson and Delilah, Samson is God’s favourite, yet he married prostitutes and killed men. Delilah, on the other hand is a prostitute who marries a man as a form of loyalty to her country or perhaps for financial gain. Her job is to find out the secret of his strength, which she does. It is very difficult to see why there is such a difference in how these two characters are perceived. Why are Samson “good” and Delilah “bad”?

Perhaps it is the way in which Delilah got her husband to tell her, his secret to her. She cried. It caught him off guard and he told her that the secret of his strength lay in his hair. Delilah then told the authorities, who came and cut off his hair while he slept, leaving him helpless. To her people, Delilah would surely have been a hero. She overpowered the strongest man in the world.

It is interesting as well, that Delilah, received for her effort, one thousand pieces of silver. Judas only received thirty pieces of silver from turning in Jesus, and that was many years later. For women of her time, she must have been a very shrewd business woman.

This is part of a series of paintings about Delilah and the mannequin not only contains the earthly remnants of a woman but her story as well. This particular painting was purchased for the Royal Bank of Canada’s Permanent Collection.

DELILAH SHOE

We love shoes. We love the way they look; we love the way they make us look. Sadly at some stage in our life we realise that they are things that we used to wear. There is still no garment of clothing that can make us look sexier than a high heeled shoe. Perhaps it was the high heel that led Samson to his demise. One can only guess. We do know that it has led many women into financial ruin as they continue to add to our collection of shoes that could rival Imelda Marco. What is the draw? Why do we covet the shoe?

I would give almost anything to be able to wear high heeled shoes again in spite of the pain and agony they bring – it is worth it.

I thought that if Delilah were to choose her own shoes today, these might be them. The border has the same coins, hair and scissors as in all of the paintings I have done for Delilah.