Sybil

For Ballam, the figure, especially the female figure, is a site of contestation, conflict and even violence throughout history. In refashioning figures and scenes from classical antiquity and art history, Ballam brings a very contemporary filter and a new view of classical tropes. Her palimpsestuous figures drawn from art historical scenes of rape and unambiguous violence inflicted on women are reimagined, with limbs, especially hands, erased and re-emerging to powerful effect. But here too are figures of redemption and triumph, realised with the same spectral skill in her brushwork and composition.