Untitled
2015
Modified photograph, framed pigment print
80cm x 80cm
Turku Art Museum Collection
As part of the series that deals with the myth of hysteria, the image represents the ambivalence of the 19th-century epidemic of female hysteria.
Hysteria was a concept of illness consisting of misdiagnosed conditions that mainly affected women. It was also a way to silence and oppress women who did not conform to the conservative gender roles of the 1800s.
It is said that hysteria was the illness of the “New Woman” — the woman who wanted to take part in the changing new world but was not allowed to. In the image, light from a window breaks across the face in the painting. It can be seen as a sign of a broken mind. However, the smile on her face hints that she could also be experiencing enlightenment.