Judith

Judith looks at her viewer as if caught in the act. The charismatic, beautiful woman, named after the tormentor of Holofernes, carries a knife behind her back as if to hide her bloody deed. Contrary to the obvious depiction of Judith by Artemisia Gentileschi (Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1614-1620), this Judith here unintentionally turns so unfavourably that we can see the bloody weapon. This work depicts a battered woman’s fantasy of resisting male dominance in her life, trying to simultaneously hide her urge and show it to the world. The subject leaves us with unanswered questions: does a woman show her anger, or should it remain hidden? How open do we deal with violence and fantasy?

*The Imperfections series shows the aesthetics of the supposedly unsightly: the baroque splendor of the protagonists staged is in deliberate contradiction to the humorous use of elements or situations from our contemporary everyday life – united in a harmonious total work of art.