Various locations in Provence are identified with and by regional and/or local re-tellings of myths and legends that originated elsewhere, in various eras.

The story of Marie Madeleine, or Mary Magdalene, or “La Magdalena” is one of the most important stories of women from the time of Christ. She is known variously as the prostitute who reformed herself upon hearing Christ preach and became one of his most devoted followers. She is also identified as the wife of Christ, and their offspring is the true holy grail. In Provence (and there are other sources of this also), Mary Magdalene is said to have set sail from Alexandria, Egypt, with the two other women, also known as Mary, after they together were the first to see Christ’s empty tomb. They either sailed or drifted to the coast of France, landing at the fishing village now known as Saintes Maries de la Mer (saint Mary’s of the sea).

Mary Magdalene took to the countryside and became a holy hermit, and the story is told that at the end of her life she is dressed only in her long hair that covers her to the ground.

I imagined “La Magdalena” at the time of taking flight from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. She is still young, perhaps still changing or completing her reformation. Her nakedness represents the transparency of all living souls in the eyes of Christ, as well as her past before meeting him. In her hair, as in the colors of a peacock’s feather, are “eyes” representing the way people have regarded her in the past. Alone, she understands, in an internal, emotional and nearly visceral experience, that she has to give up everything, untangle herself from past identity, rid herself of the eyes of the past, in order to complete her evolution to saint and receive the new regard and adulation due to her as such.