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# The Odyssey: A Complicated Man

Illustrations for Süddeutsche Zeitung on Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey.

Client

Süddeutsche Zeitung

Role

Illustration

Category

Editorial

Collection

[![Ein komplizierter Mann title artwork with a reclining figure and sea forms](/media/responsive/ad69c40e1890ca81-960.webp)](https://kathiuska.com/media/archive-additions/19b07aac-f3a7-4328-87e2-a982cb1bc54c.webp)

For Felix Stephan’s essay on Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, I illustrated Odysseus through the women who shape his journey. The commission for [Süddeutsche Zeitung](https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/kultur/odysseus-christopher-nolan-film-die-odyssee-literatur-missverstaendnis-e684786) included an opening image and three vignettes, with art direction by Lina Moreno.

Early concepts

Athena decides when the storm lifts. Ino gives him the veil that keeps him afloat. Circe turns his men into pigs and then shelters him for a year. Calypso loves him too much to let him go. Penelope buys time by unravelling her weaving night after night. And when a salt-crusted stranger drags himself out of the sea, it is Nausicaa, a girl washing clothes on the shore, who holds her ground while everyone else runs.

Two forces in the same body: the king who commands and the survivor who charms his way out.

[Image index](https://kathiuska.com/#image-index)

## Image index

## Credits

Text

Felix Stephan

Art direction

Lina Moreno

[Next projectUniversal Declaration of Human Rights_A collective illustration campaign for Amnesty International marking the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I was one of five artists invited to interpret its 30 articles._![](/media/responsive/ae97d19aa072a37f-960.webp)](https://kathiuska.com/archive/universal-declaration-of-human-rights/)

Source: https://kathiuska.com/archive/the-odyssey-a-complicated-man/