"Only Say the Word, and My Soul Shall Be Healed"

22x28"
oil on canvas
2024

This work showcases the fear women feel when they sense they have lost hold of their purity, and the religious guilt that christianity asserts onto them. This guilt makes women feel unworthy of love and respect, filling them with a looming hopelessness. The figure cowers before the sleeping lamb as her tears melt through her skin. The lamb is the figurehead for the unachievable purity she and all other women are expected to maintain.

The title is the last verse in a prayer Nikolidakis most notably remembers from going to friday mass at her catholic elementary school.

“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof,
But only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.”