PRICK - Searching for Aphrodite

Cheryl’s work is an exploration of the human condition creating fictional scenes described as landscapes of emotions. She explores her history though through thematic narratives taken from mythology, and archive.

Saguaro Cacti live for 100-200 years and survive extreme heat and drought. Like a woman, a cactus must endure a harsh environment and flourish, not because of, but despite the world it is forced to grow up in. Only after reaching maturity will a cacti bloom and the blossom, however pretty, is still surrounded by spikes. How many only stop to observe her when she’s flowering? Underestimated. Overlooked. Misunderstood. Forgotten. Just like a woman.

The female perspective is often underrepresented and, historically, we are left with a skewed looking glass through which to view the world. ‘Searching for Aphrodite’; is a long-term project that addresses womanhood as mythology, depicting a narrative representing gender, love, and sexuality.

During lockdown I expanded my photography and returned to my practice as a painter, working in isolation to explore my own history and rediscover the things about my own femaleness that I had buried deep and covered in spikes.

The series navigates the complex landscape of womanhood and her many evolutions. Through the ancient Greek myth of Aphrodite reimagined with a contemporary feminist lens, I explore my own relationship to aging and becoming invisible. I look at my history, love and loss explored through landscape, archaeology and using the mythology of the Island of Cyprus, the Island of love.