FEMALE VILLAINS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY
FEMALE VILLAINS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY
“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Aphorism 146
Artist Statement
Female characters in Greek Mythology are often reduced to a one-dimensional persona defined by a singular “villainous” act. In my work, I expand these single-story female characters into complex protagonists by showing them confidently reclaiming their “object of demise.” I am influenced by the way women have been depicted in ancient mythology and how those depictions persist in modern sources. Many of the negative themes established in Homer and Euripides are still prevalent today. As a result, I set out to paint my characters as they are; nuanced women. They are more than one moment in time, and I am calling attention to that complexity.