Lamia
2025, acrylic on canvas, 50x50cm.
L’Union de Paris Art Gallery Collection
Photo: Svetlana Hristova
In Greek mythology, Lamia was a beautiful Libyan queen loved by Zeus, punished by Hera, and transformed into a horrifying monster, cursed with eternal grief and madness.
Patriarchal societies invented the “female monster” to keep desire in check, to make women terrified of their own appetites. Here, the so-called monstrosity is a mirror of the male panic — the fear of women who demand, who bite, who speak, who can’t be controlled. But the real violence lies in the cultural apparatus that polices women’s mouths, desires, bodies and voices.