The sculpture depicts a nude Medusa holding the head of Perseus in her right hand and a sword in her left.[1] The original Medusa was sculpted in clay, then cast in resin with fibreglass reinforcements.[2] The sculpture stands just over 2 metres tall.[3][2]
Garbati grew up in a small town near Florence, where Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus with the Head of Medusa is prominently displayed in the Loggia Lanzi of the Piazza della Signoria; he admired Cellini's work, and wanted to reverse the roles of the narrative. In an interview with Quartz, he drew the distinction between Cellini's Perseus and his Medusa; in the former Perseus is triumphant, while in the latter Medusa is determined, and had acted in self defense.[2] He would later state that he was unaware of Medusa's status as a feminist icon at the time.[4]
In New York City
A photograph of Medusa, captioned "Be thankful we only want equality and not payback", went viral on social media in 2018.[5] This image was seen by New York photographer Bek Andersen, who quickly got into contact with an anonymous patron of the arts.[2][6]Medusa was the centerpiece of Medusa With The Head, a pop-up exhibition in the Bowery that ran from November 2018 to January 2019.[7]
Andersen and Garbati later collaborated on an application to New York City's Art in the Parks program. A bronze replica of Medusa was installed in Collect Pond Park, facing the New York County Criminal Court building.[8][9] Some have drawn comparison between Medusa and the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault trial, which took place at the New York County Criminal Court.[1]
