Ishtar was the most important female deity in the pantheon of ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).
Initially, Ishtar from the regions of Akkad, Assyria, and Babylon and Innana the Sumerian "Lady of Heaven" were two different goddesses who eventually became one entity (2334-2279 BC).
Ishtar / Inanna held many titles - including "Night", "Morning Star" and "Mother Goddess" took three main forms:
The goddess of love and sexuality, and fertility; Responsible for all life.
Beyond her partner (Ishtar's Tammuz/ Inanna's Dumuzid) is described as taking many lovers, and in various prayers is able in her great power to turn a man into a woman and vice versa. Innana sometimes attributed to the gay sector.
Ishtar is responsible for the emotion of love and when it reaches to extremes and the balance is disturbed love can become hate, therefore she is also the goddess of war.
The third aspect is celestial; she represents the planet Venus, the morning and evening star. One of the symbols most associated with Ishtar is the Ishtar shield, an eight-pointed star representing Venus.
Symbolizes power, unwavering stability and crosses the boundaries of this world. An Octogram is also a sign of paradise, heavenly Jerusalem and the final change. Ishtar's star is usually enclosed in a disk.
Ishtar is supreme femininity; Strong, unapologetic that does not diminish itself. She is wild, strong, she is a warrior, beautiful and sexual. She is the mother of the goddesses and the Amazons.
Her representations can be seen in popular culture, the star symbol imprinted on the crown of Wonder woman, the warrior Amazon.
She is a symbol of contrast and duality in humans, but in many cases, her character is reduced to a vicious and vengeful cartoon, not as deep as she is
Ishtar art creating process
In my art work Ishtar is part of an endless lineage of women by duplicating her figure. Portrait of Ella, my daughter, became a portrait of Ishtar, as representing my human lineage (meaning the name Ella is Goddess and before I made her portrait as “Wonderella” - all connected).
She is depicted as a female warrior, with strong red lips and brown eyes, an Ishtar crown on her forehead and red swords turning into drops of blood. Blood symbolizes war and death, and at the same time birth and continuity.
Layers of buildings cover each other, a kind of archeology of houses, of history.
In the background is a cosmic field consisting of Ishtar defenders in motion.
When the image becomes a pattern it looks like the rug in my grandmother's house (who was born in Iraq), ancient and at the same time digital, alien and futuristic.
The future is connected to the past and the present, as long as an endless chain. Every woman has a mother. The birth of a daughter symbolizes the continuity of the female chain. My daughter, for me, is the future I want to live in.
