Monument to a Constricted Body

2025, cardboard, modroc, straw, fabric, sticks, paper

This wearable sculpture explores constriction, bodily autonomy and the ways the female body is shaped by narratives imposed upon it. Built around the body from cardboard, paper and found materials, the structure simultaneously encases and exposes its wearer. Her movement is restricted; she cannot easily defend herself or access her own body, while that body remains accessible to others.

The work considers the continual demand placed upon women to reconstruct themselves around prescribed identities and expectations. Referencing the figure of the Virgin Mary, it reflects on a young woman required to remake herself around a narrative of purity, motherhood and sacrifice - her body becoming both vessel and symbol.

Yet the structure is not entirely one of submission. Its accumulated, makeshift construction suggests a body repeatedly rebuilding itself from what is available. Above the figure, the pale, bone-like form takes on the appearance of armour or a ceremonial crown, introducing an image of feminine strength within constraint. The body is restricted, but it is not entirely overcome.

2025, bandages, latex, paint, snake shedding

A spectral figure draped in snakeskin; Medusa draws on themes of gender-based violence and transformation. Created from latex and bandages, the work reimagines Medusa as a victim rather than a monster, her ghostly cloak carrying traces of injury, the shedding of skin and survival.