Medusa: Life, Death, and Desire |《美杜莎之生死爱欲》

a queer reimagining by artist Mengqi Wang 王梦琪

A note on translation: The artist's original statement was submitted in Chinese. To honor the artist's voice, both the English translation and the original Chinese text are presented together.

Medusa’s Life, Death, and Desire, Oil on Canvas, 70cm*70cm | 《美杜莎之生死爱欲》布面油画 70cm*70cm

Queer storytelling has always been about reclaiming narratives—taking figures relegated to the margins and giving them new life, agency, and meaning. Medusa, often portrayed as a monstrous outlier, becomes a powerful symbol of resistance and transformation in this context. Her story mirrors the queer experience: being vilified, misunderstood, and yet ultimately reclaimed as a testament to survival and beauty beyond conventional norms. This artwork not only reinterprets her myth but also invites us to reflect on how we perceive "otherness," challenge societal constraints, and find freedom within structure. Just as queer communities have long used creativity to subvert and redefine, Medusa’s Life, Death, and Desire turns oppression into artistry, silence into poetry, and scars into emblems of empowerment. This work is my contribution to queer storytelling and female empowerment, inviting viewers to rethink myths, embrace complexity, and celebrate the beauty of defiance.

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"In mythology, Medusa is a marginalized figure, almost entirely subjected to domination—a narrative that deeply resonates with the struggles faced by women and queer individuals. As a classic creative motif, I sought to reimagine her not as a passive object but as a vibrant subject, embodying the fusion of life, death, love, and desire. This piece is a celebration of resilience, autonomy, and the complexities of existence.

In terms of technique, I used a grid to fragment Medusa’s illusions, creating a repetitive pattern that obscures time, space, reality, and identity. While the grid may seem restrictive, it paradoxically forms a structure where freedom can thrive—much like how queer narratives often find strength in breaking boundaries and redefining constraints.

When the viewer’s shadow touches the painting, the curse of petrification reverses: the plaster-like reality cracks, revealing a flowing liquid stardust beneath. The pink rainbow scars are no longer testaments to trauma but emblems of existence—self-consuming and reborn within the folds of time and space. Medusa’s gaze becomes a philosophical event, challenging every era’s persecution of the "abnormal." All answers crystallize into silence upon her serpent hair, suspended eternally where light bends."

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美杜莎在神话故事中，是一个几乎处于完全被统治情况的边缘人物，这跟女性困境在某种层面上十分吻合。作为典型创作母题，我想在我的画面里创造一个跟神话文本里截然相反的，作为主体，而非客体的，生死爱欲集于一体的，生命力旺盛的美杜莎。手法上我主要采用了格子的方式来进行美杜莎一系列幻觉的切割。画面中格子的重复来自于一种屏蔽时间、空间、现实、身份的幻觉。虽然在实现自由的方式上好像给予了束缚，但又恰恰成为自由一种有效地生存结构。

当观者的影子触及画面时，石化诅咒将逆向生效：石膏般的现实开始龟裂，露出皮下流淌的液态星空。此刻的粉虹伤痕不再是创伤的证词，而是存在本身在时空褶皱中自噬又重生的纹章。美杜莎的凝视由此坍缩为一场哲学事件——她以被肢解的神性，质问每个时代对“异常”的围猎，而所有答案终将化作蛇发上结晶的沉默，在光的弯曲处永恒悬置。