Description
The inspiration for this painting came from my Covid obsession: feminist academic literature about Greek mythology as well as fictional feminist retellings.
In particular, Medusa’s story struck me as a consistent site of revision by authors in this field.
For people unfamiliar, the most well-known version of the myth goes like this: Medusa was a girl who was raped by Poseidon in Athena’s temple after which the goddess punished the girl for desecrating her temple. Athena did so by transforming Medusa into a creature who’s hair is made of hissing snakes and whose gaze turns everyone who looks at her into stone. In the end, Perseus (aided by Athena and Hermes) kills Medusa in her sleep and her cut-off head becomes part of Athena’s shield.
Female scholars and authors have attempted to reframe Medusa as a tragic and complex victim of patriarchal violence and my painting tries to capture her status as a victim whilst also maintaining her humanity and agency.
I used black marker to give her a counterculture aesthetic since having a hair full of hissing snakes and turning everyone with your gaze into stone is inherently kind of punk…
