the story of a raven and a swallow

I seldom work on commissions, as I prefer to create my own thing. Years ago, I had asked an artist to create a commissioned work in stained glass and gave her a sketch of what I wanted. I was so disappointed with what she created, as it didn't look at all like what I had asked for. Looking back, I understood that she was a true artist who was putting her own interpretation on my idea. However, when I started making my own art I realized that I didn't want to disappoint someone in the same way.

In 2023, I was asked if I was interested in creating an image. Here is an excerpt from the request: 

If I sent you spy equipment could you set up a room to look like second WW times/wallpaper and place some of the objects on a table in it? During the second WW there was sexpionage whereby spies used sexual means to access people and their secrets, or to add leverage. Female spies were called swallows and male spies who engaged in this were called ravens. I thought that was interesting. 

I decided to give it a try, with the understanding that I would create my interpretation of the theme, and there was absolutely no obligation for her to accept the image.  

I investigated a bit on google: 

Sexpionage is the involvement of sexual activity, or the possibility of sexual activity, intimacy, romance, or seduction to conduct espionage. Sex or the possibility of sex can function as a distraction, incentive, cover story, or unintended part of any intelligence operation.

In the Soviet Union, female agents assigned to use such tactics were referred to as swallows, while male ones were known as ravens. A commonly known type of sexpionage is a honey trap operation, which is designed to compromise an opponent sexually to elicit information from that person.

Using the background from a photograph of my dad (pictured left) from World War II, I "set the stage":

WWII, from the photo files of Eric Douglas

 

Then it was time to find photos from my library, the raven, the swallow, etc for the final image:

The Seduction, 2023

 

Fun fact: when I was working on the image, I had it in my mind that it was supposed to be a SPARROW and a raven.  It wasn't until everything was completed and I re-read the brief that I realized I had the wrong bird! So, back to my files I went to find swallow images.