Beautiful-Evil Things
Rogue Pop-Up Gallery
March 6 – 28 2024
In January 2023 I read the news about a vicious and inhumane case of femicide. The details of the case flooded social media and the comments about the victim were equally vicious and inhumane: she deserved it, she had it coming, she’s a slut, she was after his money. This woman was brutally murdered and she was the one to blame. I felt sick, I felt angry, but who am I kidding? This is not new. It’s at the foundation of our culture.
The Greek myths, for example, are full of this misogyny. Abuse and rape are disguised as romantic scenes of seduction: think Leda and the swan. Women are punished for refusing male advances, or because their beauty was too much for men to bear. Poseidon could not resist the beauty of Medusa and raped her in the temple of Athena. But it was Medusa, not Poseidon, whom Athena punished by turning her into a monster. And it as a monster she is remembered instead of the great beauty that she had been. Pandora, the first woman, created to punish men for stealing fire from the gods, had the irresistible beauty of a goddess but a shameless mind and deceitful nature, and unleashed pain and suffering upon the earth. Hesiod called her ‘kalon kakon’ — a beautiful, evil thing. The parallels with Eve are clear.
How much have these stories in culture and fable shaped us to maintain the sexism still present in our lives? As a woman how much have I perpetuated misogynistic roles in my own life? I was born and raised in a culture of machismo. I have accepted abusive behaviour, I have been sexually objectified and I have considered this normal conduct. How long have women lived through this that it has become normalised? How oblivious are we to our conditioning?
This body of work is a personal reflection on these questions. Looking through the classics at the past to see that these stories are told through a patriarchal lens. Recognising that they are not mere myths, but reflect a misogynistic picture of women that persists in our modern-day culture of victim blaming. Becoming aware of how these myths have shaped my own understanding of the world and my role as a woman in it. And more importantly, these works are for all women, past, present and future. For all their endurance, their bravery, their love. Because we need to consider that, if we want to change how we see and treat women, and repair the damage that is done, then it is through love, our most equalising virtue.
Dedicated to all the women whose stories led me to this work. Las quiero hermosas.