The series of images by Cristina de Gennaro named medusa Portraits is a very conceptual and modern day project which has taken some inspiration and ideas from the Greek mythology gorgon, Medusa. This project idea is one of the very reasons I am interested in the impact Greek mythology has on today’s culture. It has been around for thousands of years yet we still use it in our every day life to explore different topics or to relate to certain things.
This project is an exploration of femininity - this is the short extract which is written with the images.
The Medusa Portraits explore aspects of female aging and the association of the “feminine” in Western philosophy and culture to earth and decay, as well as its biological connections to birth and life. Referencing the Greek myth of Medusa, the portraits allude to the connections between female desire, female rage, and the physical body.
The series explores the aging “feminine” as non-binary to the “masculine” while still maintaining its connections to the biological and the physical: as linked to the earth, to life and death, order and disorder. My experience of aging is complex and filled with contradictions: age has brought with it not only knowledge and power, but also fragility and loss – and these portraits reflect both.
This feels like a very important project to be made and I feel that relating it to a topic which is known worldwide, really helps people to relate to it and to understand it. I have been very intrigued and have wanted to learn more about Medusa through this project and from I have learnt, she has a very sad and intense story. She is known as a gorgon, but she was raped by Poseidon and so Athena punished her but giving her a head full of snakes, for essentially no longer being a virgin. Very interesting story, but the idea of being prompted to research into her story more is exactly what I would like for people to feel when they look at my work. I would like for them to feel educated or for them to do further research into these topics.