Inspired by Jess Zimmerman’s epic meditations on the feminization of Greek mythological monsters in her book, Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology, this multimedia exhibition builds on the “evil women” you’ve come to loathe and love. As the grotesque, vengeful, and hungry creatures of the ancient world became subject to ever narrowing standards of human feminine beauty, an insidious message sunk into western culture: Beware Women. They might all have horns and scales and too much hair under there. They might all be monsters. The women and other outcasts in this exhibit know this to be true. They are not easy. They fight back. They leave a residue in their wake as they cross to the other side. And they like it better there.
“We’ve built a culture on the backs of these monstrous women, letting them prop up tired morals about safety and normalcy and feminine propriety. But the traits they represent—aspiration, knowledge, strength, desire—are not hideous. In men’s hands, they have always been heroic… The she-beasts in this book patrol other borders, other gates: ambition, intellect, complexity, power, pride. They mark areas on a map: Do not enter. Here be monsters.
Draw a new map. Mark down: Be monsters here.”
“The monster dwells at the gates of difference... The monster polices the borders of the possible.”
Photos of show by Matt Reiter
