How much do you know about the Virgin Mary? How has her image perpetuated an idealisation for motherhood? Where does the iconography of the witch stem from? Is there more to Aphrodite/ Venus than as just the ancient’s idea of a pin-up?

Join art historian Katy Hessel for a series of lectures dedicated to Biblical and mythological female subjects commonly depicted in western art history, from witches to the Virgin Mary, Medusa, Eve to Aphrodite. Borrowing from the 1972 book and television series, Ways of Seeing, and its author John Berger’s idea “to start a process of questioning”, Hessel will be delving into the evolution of these subjects: looking at their story of origin and how male artists from history ‘perceived’ them (perhaps perpetuating a certain narrative), and how, if we look at them from the perspective of a woman artist, we might just see them anew.

These talks are not to be recorded and are part of a working progress for an upcoming book project.

Each talk will focus on a specific female subject from art history.