The folklore and landscape of the Sertão are intrinsically connected. In looking at thebroad region of what can be roughly translated as the backlands of Brazil through a classical lens and tying it to ancient tragedies, is new meaning being attached to it,overlaying what is already present, or is this process one of drawing out of the specific a universal that is also present in the Sophoclean text? I wanted to visually explore the idea shifting recombinations of images and concepts, using cultural symbols of the region (assum preto and Lampião) and images from Pasolini’s Edipo Re. A blinded Oedipus morphs into the assum preto bird, immortalized in a classic Luiz Gonzaga song describing the sorrow of the practice of poking out the eyes of blackbirds so that they sing not only at night but during the permanent darkness of day. The bird melts back into the form of Franco Citti, whose face becomes his helmet which in turn twists into the iconic hat of Lampião, one of the major figures of the popular imagination of the northeast. The bandit’s efforts to visually distinguish his troupe led to one of the strongest symbols of the northeast in the shape of the adorned, upturned cangaço hat. Is this a deliberate mythology, or is all mythology deliberate?