"I am fascinated by the
idea that a purely altruistic act may bring about an unexpected reward. Of
course, if the intention is to bring about a recompense, the act is not
altruistic, but in the role of storyteller you can be a detached observer and
see the final outcome.

Androcles, with no more
thought of gain than flying in the air, parks his bike and extracts the thorn
from the Lion’s paw. Other people and animals, the snake, the crocodile and the
frog look on in horror. The once fierce Lion evokes compassion.

In my story things
didn’t go that well for the Lion. He was captured and put in a circus.
Androcles hasn’t made too much of his life either and ends up as an odd job
man. Just as the now irascible Lion, tormented and angry, has escaped from his
cage there is a moment of recognition. A pause. But here is the rub. What
happens next? My print is just 2 frames from a longer story. So, what is the
prequel? What is the sequel? I expect my audience to do a bit of work. In all
myths there is an economy of information. They lodge deep in us precisely
because we supply so much of our own imagining into them.

I am interested in this
format where 2 images sit alongside each other and feed us with many
possibilities and insights. I am planning a book called “Partners” where the
double page spread will set connected but unconnected situations and characters
together. Androcles and the Lion has no basis in fact. Of course, animals do
remember and respond to people, but the complexity of “gratitude” may be beyond
them". 

- Chris Orr, 2021