Installation of Medusa’s Reclamation, created by Paris-Marae Smith. Presented in the installation event titled Please Ask For Help, in the Art and Media Lab, at the Isabel Bader Centre for Performing Arts, from December 2nd to 5th, 2025.

  Medusa’s Reclamation is a life-sized, monumental greyscale drawing and painting that confronts the Roman iteration of Medusa’s backstory. Medusa was born human and served as a priestess to Minerva (Athena) until she was raped by Neptune (Poseidon) in Athena’s temple. Athena then put a spell on Medusa, causing her to live the rest of her life with snakes for hair and the power to turn people to stone when they looked into her eyes and those of her snakes.

   Medusa’s Reclamation is intended to strip Medusa of her monstrous façade and reputation, presenting her as a symbol of resilience and empowerment. Having been viewed as a villain and often victim-blamed throughout history, this artwork flips the more common representation of Medusa as a mythological figure most often without her body in view, with a facial expression holding anger and even sometimes hatred. Instead, I present her entire image as a woman who simultaneously looks powerful and vulnerable. Medusa is presenting herself nude and confidently, posed as if embracing her exposure, while also in a state of vulnerability, without an expression of fear, anger, or hatred; she is just present. It translates to a representation of Medusa reclaiming her body and confidence after Poseidon attempted to steal it from her.

   I began this artwork with a cotton bedsheet and a graphite pencil, using my sister as a stencil to determine lifelike proportions for Medusa’s body. After finishing a simple pencil outline, I refined my outline with charcoal, where I then added extra details to her face, body, and snakes alongside some shading. Having spent the most time on her snakes, I drew each scale individually with charcoal and went back over them with black pen. Afterwards I switched to brush pens to better define the flow of my outlines and prep for painting. Using black fabric paint, I went back over most of the outlines of her body, where I used the paint as a tool for shading and refining the realistic appearance of her body, head, and her snakes. The total time I had spent on this work was 12 hours.

   The choice of this painting being completed on a large, thin, loose, cotton sheet was made to emphasize Medusa’s vulnerability and create an interaction with the presence of someone near her. When the piece is hanging, the airflow from someone stepping nearby creates ripples of movement in the sheet, creating an effect of Medusa responding to the presence of another. The realism that is employed with her being life-scale is bridging the gap that remains between myth and reality, making Medusa’s physical presence in the room feel more inescapable and immediate.

   The greyscale colour palette is intended to emphasize the historical and ancient element of Medusa's myth, while simultaneously reflecting her gaze turning people to stone. When presented in the installation Please Ask for Help (2025), a neutral spotlight was directed on Medusa, and a green spotlight was directed in front of her. The reason for this choice was because Medusa’s snakes and eyes are often rendered green in coloured versions of her. In my artwork, I deliberately chose not to include irises and pupils in her eyes (a frequent practice for many representations of her). The viewer is invited to hold her gaze while she is nude. With her stance being intentionally confident and confrontational, yet vulnerable, the viewer may face the act of wrestling with seeing versus being seen. Her nudity is not an objectification; rather, alongside her stance, it is a striking symbolic presentation of strength, confidence, resilience, and reclaiming of the self.

   Medusa’s Reclamation is a segment of my broader research and creation interests that take on other mediums, including film and written research. The overall connection that weaves throughout my work is the vulnerability that is uncovered in Medusa’s myth, while simultaneously bringing forth resilience and empowerment for women who resonate with her story. My overall goal as a filmmaker, is to bring attention to and push back against patriarchal norms and standards that place women in a position of discomfort, forcing them to operate in a world that was not built for them. I provide women with a space to know they are not alone in their feelings but also to feel empowered, knowing they have a safe space to be vulnerable but also to stand their ground. I am the right person to make this work despite the medium change because I aim to reclaim and re-present the visual space for Medusa as an entire woman and feminist symbol of empowerment and resilience, rather than just a face that has been often reduced to and interpreted as a monster.

   Ultimately, Medusa’s Reclamation functions as a monument for reclaiming of the self after surviving a tragic experience. By presenting Medusa as a whole person, vulnerable, stripped of her monstrous presentation, but guarded with confidence and self-possession. I challenge the viewer to disconnect with the long history of demonization and defamation that has shadowed Medusa. Instead, viewing her as a woman who demands from those who meet her gaze attention, reflection, and accountability.