The work is based on the historically popular subject matter of ’Judith beheading Holofernus’, most famously painted by seminal female artist Artemisia Gentileschi in 1612. The work then plays on the strong idiomatic performances of empowered femininity as it stands in opposition to crises stricken masculinity. Both these performative roles have been usurped and recast within the same actor. The masculine and feminine forces here contend for dominance in a fluid construction of identity, ultimately becoming an allegorical vanitas of transient gender performances.

 

"Holofurnus Contemplating Suicide" was awarded top 10 in the Barclays L'Atelier art competition in 2015.