Edition of 7

Mixed media; perforated aluminium sheet (39 x 49 cm), 10 unique photo prints (15 x 20 cm each), and translucent envelope.

*Please note that each pack of 10 images is unique and varies, as it has been specially curated for each of the seven editions. 

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“By dressing her, she came to life” (2024) is a collaboration between Paloma Wool and Penélope Archive.

The archetype of Penelope from Homer’s Odyssey has, like the vast majority of historical female characters, been interpreted through the male gaze. She has become a symbol of conjugal fidelity, while also being portrayed as cunning and deceitful. Femininity is presented as an ambiguous, unreliable, and therefore dangerous terrain. Inspired by the idea of narrating the tale from Penelope's point of view, we wanted to revisit her character to animate an imaginative and poetic exercise: how would Penelope have told the story, had she been granted a voice of her own?

So we brought Penélope to life: we attire her forgotten, anonymous and passive body ―like tragically many others— to remind us that she was much more than stone.