Bastian Wylt

‘Merciless Waters’ is an illustration made through the process of digital painting as I wanted to create a semi-realistic renaissance-esque painting without the need to use paint meaning I wouldn’t have to wait for it to dry. I produced this to convey the sexual assault of Medusa, showing the character and original story that isn’t the commonly popularised version where she is made out to be the villain or a seductress.

I wanted to use symbolism to portray how she was overwhelmed by Poseidon, struggling to be free as she was put through such a traumatic event. I decided to convey this by having her struggling in water symbolising how she was being suffocated by her assaulter and how she was drowning in her own emotions. 

The pose I went for is to show how she is struggling but almost in a serene way seeing as fighting a god is impossible showing how her fight was eventually taken from her whilst also taking a key aspect of herself at the same time her body autonomy and purity. Due to this, the pose is dynamic in how she is reaching up towards the surface for freedom, her hair swirling in the depths showing the movement of water in the piece.

I hope to convey what many sexual assault survivors feel at the time of being assaulted as well as show how one’s spirit can give in and be crushed by how consuming it is. The water also represents her transformation, drowning as a mortal and resurfacing as ‘The monster’ much like a twisted form of baptism.

Bastian Nyx Wylt