The Woman

The Woman is my take on a well-worn subject in sculpture - the Bound Captive. Specifically, I was thinking about Hiram Powers’ Greek Slave, a pro-abolition sculpture made about a decade before the American Civil War. It depicts a Neoclassical Venus, nude and in chains, helpless and awaiting rescue from the Ottoman Turks during the Greek War of Independence. It was designed to arouse sympathy for the abolitionist cause, which it certainly did, but the trope of the helpless (and naked and desireable) female awaiting resuce has never sat well with me.

The Woman turns this trope on its head; what if the female is not bound and helpless, but constrained for ‘our’ own protection? Helpless people do not need to be oppressed - oppression gives away the game that the oppressors fear the power of those they oppress.

I chose to dress The Woman in the outfit of a professional fighter, to show that she is not simply struggling due to her circumstances, but that being a fighter is part of who she is, captive or not. I also wanted to clothe her so that she would not be viewed as a sensual subject; she is to be admired, not desired.

Photography by Dario Garofallo.