Vase depicting Progne and Filomela, Naples Museum c. 20th century

Editor: This is a pencil sketch of a vase, titled "Vase depicting Progne and Filomela, Naples Museum" by Kenneth John Conant. The vase has a very ornamental shape. What stories might this vase tell us? Curator: Considering the myth of Progne and Filomela, a narrative of violence and transformation, we might think about the role of domestic objects in reflecting or even containing societal traumas. Could this vase, if it were not a sketch, function as a silent witness, a decorative piece hinting at silenced voices and brutal histories? Editor: So, the beauty of the vase might mask a darker story? Curator: Precisely. And perhaps this act of sketching, of documentation, is itself a form of activism, a way to keep these narratives alive and question the power structures that seek to bury them. Editor: I hadn’t thought about it that way. It gives the sketch a whole new layer of meaning.