The shape of her fear: The returning woman, 2025
Video & print
Diptych: 62 seconds; 250 cm x 78,5 cm
Artist’s Statement
The returning woman is one of four creature designs from The shape of her fear series, a practice-based research project that investigates how female monsters are represented in horror. Through creature design, costume-making, and film, the project uses the process of making as a form of research, exploring how horror imagery can be reimagined beyond traditional portrayals of women as objects of fear.
Inspired by Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run With the Wolves (1992), The Returning Woman reinterprets the folktale The Handless Maiden. In the original story, a young woman has her hands severed after being promised to the devil, yet her tears continue to protect and sustain her. The tale is often understood as a story of healing, resilience, and transformation in the face of oppression.
In this reimagining, her missing hands are replaced by sickle-like blades that gradually fuse with her body, hardening into horn-like growths. What begins as a violation is reclaimed as a source of strength, transforming vulnerability into protection. The design draws on imagery traditionally associated with the Monstrous-Feminine, including references to female anatomy, but reframes these forms as symbols of empowerment rather than abjection.
Throughout the work, themes of fragility and resilience coexist. Delicate fabrics, horn-like structures, and tear-shaped details transform grief into resistance, presenting monstrosity not as a punishment for femininity, but as a testament to survival. The returning woman reclaims the monster as a figure of endurance, autonomy, and self-determination.
