The Monstrous Them is an exploration of my own gender experience through the myth of the
harpies. Through research, I’ve discovered that though Harpies are seen as mythological
monsters, they possess very few concretely “bad” traits. Instead, what seems to be the case is
that they have been villainized because of their avoidanceof the male gaze.

Often described as having both masculine and feminine features, I connected the harpies with
my own experience of being othered for expressing gender through means that did not serve
societal notions of feminine beauty.

I have created three large scale charcoal and acrylic ink drawings depicting the harpies as
flowing masses of repeated marks. Using raw canvas panels I have created one piece that is a
patchwork of different arch shaped marks. I have also created two smaller pieces to
complement and exist alongside the large piece, which is titled Ocypete.

The two smaller pieces, titled Aello (the piece depicting the underside of the harpy,) and
Caelano (the piece depicting the back and talons of a harpy), serve to fill the airy space of the
atrium and compliment Ocypete.

This project has served first and foremost as an investigation into my past and my associations
with gender and the world around me. Touching on themes of the monstrous, the other,
abjection, and gender roles, I have found a therapeutic, meditative process of drawing and
feeling through my own emotions.