Sienna Todd Senior Thesis Exhibition, April 2021
May Gallery • University of San Diego
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.
Transformation of Medusa
My blood gives life.My story is one of pain and transformation.A truth in its own rightYet only uttered as a twisted war storyFor the glory of a man.I heal and find my own power.
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 powerTo a supposed hero?Why is loss of beauty deemedThe ultimate punishment for a woman?History has named the VictimThe Monster.
Cassandra
Diptych, oil on canvasI 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.
CASSANDRA top panel detail, oil on canvas by Sienna Todd
CASSANDRA bottom panel detail, oil on canvas by Sienna Todd
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.
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.
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.
Artwork and text copyright Sienna Todd, 2021.
Installation
