Jessica Helfand's 'Triumph's End' Reflects on Icarus Myth

Artist and writer Jessica Helfand has released the 19th installment of her ongoing series 'The Icarus Diaries' on Design Observer, titled 'Triumph's End.' The piece features a 24x24-inch oil on canvas painting from 2025, accompanied by a reflective text. Helfand meditates on the conclusion of her exploration of the Icarus narrative, quoting poet Jack Gilbert's 'Failing and Flying' to reframe Icarus's fall not as failure but as the end of triumph. She also references Otto Lilienthal's statement on flight. Helfand, a former critic at Yale School of Art and founding editor of Design Observer, is based in New England and has authored books on visual culture.