There was a time when the clouds spoke to us. The rain would carry their whispers like a mother swaddling her baby. The drops would wash over the lucky ones. It's true that everyone prays but only a few believe the rain will come. Daedalus was an inventor with a heart of gold. There were many who took advantage of his gifts, yet he remained humble. One of his favorite projects was constructing the labyrinth that King Minos requested of him. The only thing that made Daedalus’s eyes sparkle more than an unsolvable maze, was his only son. Icarus was still an apprentice, but a very fast learner. He adored his father and wanted him to receive the respect and attention he deserved. Icarus saw the fire in his father's eyes dying with each passing year, while his own eyes could carry a torch into battle. One day, fate came knocking. King Minos decided his secrets were best kept under lock and key. Daedalus and Icarus were bound to the confines of their own island for eternity. Months passed and Daedalus’s eyes turned as black as the thunderstorms he wished for. Every day Icarus would climb the tallest tree and try to touch the clouds. He thought maybe they forgot about him. Daedalus usually enjoyed the soft afternoon breeze but this time it felt stronger. He saw the birds beginning their migration and using the wind to carry and steer the flock. Lightning struck. The patter of the raindrops helped Daedalus focus. He constructed two sets of wings using a wooden skeleton, goose feathers and beeswax. The night before the escape, Icarus asked his father if the clouds would carry them to safety. Daedalus answered cautiously, “Take them by the hand and you will be free. Loyalty is always rewarded.” Icarus strapped on his wings and saw the morning sun greet him like an equal. He too, would be a god of the sky. Before they left, Daedalus said “These wings will bring us somewhere new, but I was never trapped. I was with you.” “I saw your light go out. Your eyes used to be warm and I want you to find it again.” “Son, my eyes are merely a pool of water. The light you speak of is a reflection of the torch I passed along to you. Remember, it's already lit. Don't spend your life looking for something that never left.” Icarus heard his father but didn't quite understand what he meant. The wind was strong enough to carry them all the way to Athens. Icarus heard the whispers of each passing cloud and wondered if the sun had better advice. He ascended higher and left his loyalty behind. Then somehow, he felt heavier. Icarus looked down and saw his wings melting away. As he fell into the blue, he remembered the words his father would say to him before bed. “The clouds have dreams just like we do, but they spend every day shielding us from the sun's harsh rays because they wouldn't exist without the sun and we wouldn't exist without them. So when you close your eyes, don't dream of the sun or of the clouds, but dream of yourself. It's called falling in love and falling asleep for a reason. We must leave our old world behind because the new one doesn't exist without us.”

Icarus (2025) explores eroticism as the yearning for vitality, imagination, and inner freedom. What is desire beyond the physical? Through myth and metaphor, Ethan Helow reflects on the emotional risk of becoming: the heat of longing, the pull of transcendence, and the tension between freedom and belonging.

This retelling of the Icarus myth mirrors Ethan’s own journey as an artist. His work explores the vulnerability required to grow, the creative risk of self-reinvention, and the grief of letting go. Icarus’s fall isn’t just a warning; it’s a rite of passage, a moment of surrender that precedes transformation.

Through photography, Ethan captures the emotional terrain between soaring and falling, where light and shadow meet, and where loss and liberation become indistinguishable. These moments mark the passage from safety to self-definition — from myth to becoming.

Icarus’s fall was never the end of the story. It was the beginning of mine.