Furies

This work explores the historical connection between women and madness (and medicine), and the gendered nature of socially deviant behavior. I was inspired by the famous patient, “Anna O,” who was diagnosed with hysteria as a young woman by Josef Breuer, who was close friends with Sigmund Freud. She was treated with various experimental therapies, including early “free association” talk therapy. She was institutionalized when the therapies did not help her, and later recovered and became known as a social feminist pioneer. Modern doctors and psychologist have suggested that she may have suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy.

The materials in the piece allude to various roles, archetypes, and stereotypes women have held, been shaped by, subjected to, or challenged throughout the ages.