Vanessa Safavi Swiss, b. 1980
Further images
The artist is inspired here by the iconography of the goddess Medusa from Greek mythology, whose hair takes the form of swarming venomous snakes and whose gaze has the power to turn anyone into stone. Initially considered monstrous, Medusa gradually became an archetype of the femme fatale, then a symbol of power claimed by the feminist movement. Her figure and her story are the source of stories about our relationship with the monstrous, the power of the feminine and the fear of castration, allusions that can be found in the sculptures of Vanessa Safavi.
– Text by Séverine Fromaigeat