The Trials of the Golden Rat series is derived from a childhood game, FIVE LINES, where random scribbles are drawn on a blank page to become an inventive jumping-off point. Part cloud-busting, part Rorschach test, this version of the game explores the power of drawing and intent, as interpreted through the epic poem The Twelve Labours of Hercules. The five lines, here drawn on blank ‘plates’, are transformed into thirteen images depicting mythical animal-human hybrids in tales of ignorance, manipulation and control, intolerance, hubris, greed; and, conversely, of justice and acceptance. In this series, the original five marks are printed in red ink, in order to emphasize the generative creative process.