The Severed Heads

2023

Pentaptych, Oil on Canvas

365 x 130 cm

At the heart of my recent body of work is a large format oil painting comprised of five panels entitled The Severed Heads. The piece is characterized by its striking use of vibrant colors, predominantly reds and greens, creating an image that demands attention. Partially influenced by Julia Kristeva's analytical essay Visions Capitales: Arts et rituels de la décapitation, my work reintroduce classical female figures into the contemporary climate. 

Within the composition, one can discern Eve about to commit the Original Sin, Medusa enduring her fateful encounter with the Greek hero Perseus, witches being burned at the stake, Judith beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes, and an intimate portrait capturing the paradoxical dynamics of a violent yet eroticized relationship between two women. What unites these various female figures is their shared history of abuse, both psychological and physical. The work presents viewers with a European historical timeline of female trauma history. 

A central aspect of my work is its particularly strong focus on history within the field of contemporary art. On that, I would like to elaborate on my position as a contemporary female painter working with a medium that has for the longest time been linked to male-dominated oppressive milieus. What my work aims to do is to re-appropriate a female history that has been stolen. I wish to discuss abuse not merely as a physical reality but as a passed-down heritage and internalization of trauma. This heritage plays an undeniable role in our present- day perception of what femininity means and how we define what the word woman means. By re-drawing female figures originating from male-dominated historical aesthetics, a subtle yet powerful subversion is created. Through this act of re-appropriation, a certain alchemization and bewitching process unfolds and allows the images to reach a form of liberation. 

My personal relationship with European art history has also informed my paradoxical perception of beauty. I’ve always had a strong fascination for classical painting and its transcendental beauty. While growing up, I began realizing how violent these works really are, and how they imprison and hurt our conception of women. This awareness and reflection now form a significant part of my artistic practice. 

In The Severed Heads, the vibrant color palette dominated by shades of reds and greens reflects these ideas. The red symbolizes an internal bleeding of the traditional classical imagery, portraying it as a vulnerable, open wound. Meanwhile, green is employed to depict the perception of feminine evil—a portrayal rooted in historical male fear of femininity. It begins with the alluring temptress serpent, who metamorphoses into the dreaded Medusa, who evolves into the persecuted witch, who in turn gains momentum with the figure of Judith, and ultimately predominates over the red in the final painting. Beyond its representation of feminine evil, green also symbolizes hope and the reclamation of female history and power. 

In essence, my work delves deep into the historical inheritance that shapes the European present-day female psyche. While firmly grounded in gender research, my artistic expression oversteps these limitations, touching upon broader themes of European cultural heritage and its effects on contemporary societies. Within my exploration of the obsessive relationship between art and beauty, vulnerability emerges as a catalyst for liberation, allowing motifs and ideas of beauty to transcend their oppressive origins.