• broken image

    Sienna Todd Art

    broken image

    TEMPTRESS, VILLAINESS, MONSTER, WITCH

    is about reclaiming feminine mythologies, about seeing the ways the narratives of feminine figures have been shaped by oppressive male perspectives, and holding a light up to how these stories mirror the experiences of women today.

    There is a power in naming something, in identifying how stories shape our lives, and how every woman carries her own story. This series of large oil paintings explores mythological narratives through a feminist perspective in a way that centers feminine voices, seeking to become an activation of empathy by reimagining, reclaiming, and reinterpreting their stories to reveal instances of women’s suffering, struggle, and strength.

  • broken image

    Circe

     

    broken image

    Arachne's Web

     

    broken image

    Ariadne

     

    broken image

    Transformation of Medusa

     

    My blood gives life.

    My story is one of pain and transformation.

    A truth in its own right

    Yet only uttered as a twisted war story

    For the glory of a man.

    I heal and find my own power.

    broken image

    Reflection of Medusa

    Monster and Villainess.
    Why are these the words we turn to?
    Is the monster a better story,
    My pain twisted to give power
    To a supposed hero?
    Why is loss of beauty deemed
    The ultimate punishment for a woman?
    History has named the Victim
    The Monster.
    broken image

    Cassandra

    Diptych, oil on canvas
     

    I prophesy truths no one believes.

    Death weaves into death,

    An endless litany of voices

    Suppressed and Silenced.

    My warnings join the cacophony of the unheard.

    Yet I see a tide rising.

     

    broken image

    CASSANDRA top panel detail, oil on canvas by Sienna Todd

     

    broken image

    CASSANDRA bottom panel detail, oil on canvas by Sienna Todd

     

    broken image

    Witch

    My voice is dangerous.

    When we challenge their lies,

    The powerful claim oppression

    With phrases built on the deaths

    Of women who dared to live.

    It’s not a Witch Hunt.

    It’s a reckoning.

    broken image

    Daphne

     

    In the sway of my leaves,

    A vestige of my final violent breath,

    You saw a nod of consent.

    Though my lips have sealed,

    My body is protected by my silent bark

    Yet you pluck my leaves from my limbs

    As though I have given them willingly,

    An excuse on your lips that I should be pleased.

    They will become a symbol of victory.

    But whose victory?

    Where you saw a wild thing to be tamed,

    I felt fleeting freedom.

    Where you saw a pursuit of passion,

    I felt hunted.

    Where you saw love,

    I felt fear.

    broken image

    Briseis

    They say I am a pawn

    In a war of male ego.

    Complacent. Loving. Captive.

    But in the silence,

    I call for plague,

    I curse my captors,

    I resist in quiet anger.

    broken image
    broken image

    Artwork and text copyright Sienna Todd, 2021-2023.

  •