Within this series there are herstory-inspired one-of-a-kinds, fresh Cameo pieces and HBJ’s newest Purchase with Purpose piece – the BARCC Medusa Cameo Studs, benefitting the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.
Like most mythology, there are varying origin stories- some recounted that she was a beautiful maiden priestess and her monstrous state was punishment for a crime committed against her; the poet Ovid depicted Medusa as a beautiful woman raped by Poseidon in Athena’s temple. The most fascinating part of Medusa's story is it’s manipulation over time by those who retell it.
photograph by Stephanie Larsen
Yet Medusa persists- the commodification of her trauma and her anger can be found in classical art, mythology’s many stories and comparisons to contemporary figures. In the last two years alone, women in power have been compared to Medusa to criticize and dehumanize them. There are undoubtedly versions of ourselves, as women, that we can all see in Medusa --
the rage, the despair, the beauty and the strength.
The word survivor does not illustrate Medusa’s journey as it should- spoken of as either a seductress who was rightly punished, or a helpless victim; either depiction absolving her tormentors of blame and perpetuating a story of female authority silenced. Yet no matter how her story is retold, her trauma brought beauty into the world of Olympians and Titans-- the winged horse Pegasus was released from her slain body and he was said to bring a spring of water whenever his hooves touched the earth.
photograph by Stephanie Larsen
Sources:
Women in Power by Mary Beard
Mythology by Edith Hamilton
The Timeless Myth of Medusa, a Rape Victim Turned Into a Monster by Christobel Hastings
The Original ‘Nasty Woman’ by Elizabeth Johnston
Metamorphoses by Ovid
Statius by Thebaid
