Monstrous Women

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This series reimagines mythological female monsters, Medusa, Scylla, Lamia, the Sphinx and others, as figures of untamed strength, rage and vulnerability. Drawing on feminist research and ancient myths, the work challenges the way female power has long been distorted and demonised.

Created through a combination of fluid ink, digital collage, and mark-making, each piece features traces of vulvas, breasts, and weaponry within fragmented bodies, referencing how female figures have been both sexualised and feared.

The project began as a digital collage demonstration using artefacts from the Fitzwilliam Museum and evolved into a deeper exploration of the monstrous feminine. Inspired by thinkers such as Debbie Felton, Sharon Blackie and Mary Beard, the series interrogates how women’s anger, strength and wildness are still policed today.

This work is personal as well as political. It draws on the idea that the monster may not only be myth, it may live in all of us. These women are not villains, but icons of survival, resistance and revenge.