"A Fall From Grace"

18x36"
oil on canvas
2024

A Fall from Grace is about how standards of those who undergo sexual assault change. In ancient Greece medusa was ostracized and antagonized for her assault. Now, people looking back on the myth with a modern lens sympathize with her. But although the social perspective of her story has shifted, society still shames survivors- particularly harsh towards men- and antagonizes them in similar ways to medusa.

The painting captures the idea of progression through the background fading from dark to light as well as the gradual transition from one character to the other. Medusa’s halo represents how she and her myth have been societally consecrated while survivors today still face the harshness that Medusa’s fate was adorned with. She looks up at them, extending her hair as a gesture of solidarity, looking up with an empathetic gaze.