THE MEDUSA PROJECT

The Medusa project is a new exploration that investigates ways of re-presenting the Medusa myth in a contemporary art context. 
The focus is on reweaving cultural memory of the myth in relation to issues concerning feminism, reclaiming of lost selves and the Anthropocene.
Archetypes have power on the collective psyche of the human race. By re weaving its cultural context, can we affect a change in mass consciousness? Can art, due its nature as presenting ideas beyond verbal or written language, have a substantial impact and modification on consciousness using long standing archetypes? 

My work has two distinct aspects that I seek to bring more closely together. My recent investigations are gestational, developed during my time in the GCVA, although the concepts have sat with me for many years and have investigated as an experiential practice.
My entry point into reweaving cultural memory is with aspects of the Medusa myth.
 Olympian mythology which is the cornerstone of western civilisation is built on the destruction of a PanGaian /earth based cosmological understanding, as documented by scholars such as Carl Jung and Marija Gimbutas. This empire encouraged fear and a dismantling of feminine wisdom. For me this is a powerful symbol of where the patriarchal influences of today gained their strongest foothold on our collective psyche. A foothold I feel, contemporary art is effective at dismantling. I want to contribute visually to a renovation of our current collective unconscious. Visual art can bypass the need for language through effective semiotic relationships and art created effectively can assist in rewriting our cultural memory. It’s important to ‘re-present‘ these myths in a contemporary context. Art has a way of transcending language and in that, the deeper more powerful archetypal myth meaning can be presented for the viewer. I believe the Medusa to be one of the most powerful myths, hence its enduring appeal in its various guises as its meaning has been manipulated according to the culture of the time. It is my desire to be investigating ways of presenting this myth in various contemporary methods.
My aim is to both embrace an earthy materiality as well as hinting towards what is beyond the merely apparent.
Medusa for me is an exploration of contemporary feminist and Jungian interpretations of the myth. Describing how the feminine psyche has been divided by the patriarchy. My own ideologies are forming around the myth in the relationship between Athena and Medusa (as a split resulting from patriarchal forces, leading to challenges in sisterhood. I will explore this split between the fecund and instinctual feminine and reason (represented by Athena).
e very nature of the generative forces (the feminine inherent to the medusa myth for example) are central for me when making art as it is directly sourced from the instinctual. For me Medusa investigates the nature of transformation, cultural conditioning and determining how the mythology presents itself to its intended
audience. Many other feminine archetypes could be rewoven into presentations of contemporary art. Could present- ing contemporary ‘re interpretations’ of other feminine archetypes have an impact on collective cultural memory also?

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My voice is currently an echo in an unknown place. I like the sound but it does not sound like my voice once did. Many things are familiar such as the actual act of art making and other things are unfamiliar in both a glorious, almost blinding way. Much like a luxury vehicle that I have not yet learned to drive with precision. I have spent years exploring outside the constraints of regular societal expectations whilst also being a parent. I wanted to be out on the fringes. I wanted back roads and secret pathways. Now I am ready to be mentored.
The idea of artist as “world-maker” is a term I only more recently encountered. But it is a term which describes my sentiments as a visual artist and I do feel a sense of willing responsibility and a readiness to embrace new ways of art making in whatever way I can. 

MEDUSA PROJECT

Example from Medusa project claim - 2017 200cm x 60 cm