The Contemporary Witchhunt Series.

‘The Contemporary Witchhunt Series’ is produced on my research on how our cultural and societal response to women cannot be untied from our historical treatment of women perceived as witches. The series of paintings are based on my research and personal experiences of living as a woman in contemporary society. The works range from still life and experiments from the body, drawing inspiration from Carolee Schneemann, Tai Shani and Audrey Fack and researching historical and contemporary debates within feminism from authors such as Laura Bates, Silvia Federici and Mona Chollet.

This body of work intends to visualise the female rage against patriarchal culture and how women deal with the repercussions of everyday sexism, assault and rape, which can devastate your physical and mental state. The widespread normality of the sexualisation of women is prominent in celebrity culture as the objectification of women in mainstream media like: films; television; music videos; social media applications and adult content. There is an apparent increase in acceptance in our society of using women's bodies as a source of pleasure and exploitation. We see the female form hypersexualised, embracing materialism and objectification engrained in our culture ‘The Contemporary Witchhunt Series’ highlights how historic Witchhunts are reminiscent of how women are still harassed and blamed today for their own subjugation as modern women's roles and life decisions can be tied back to symptoms of witchcraft, refusal of motherhood, rejection of marriage, ignoring traditional beauty standards, bodily and sexual autonomy, homosexuality, ageing, anger and self-determination. ‘The Contemporary Witchhunt Series’ visualises the witchhunts from a modern feminist perspective and allows the viewer to understand how this deep-rooted hatred towards women is still widespread across our society.