Federica Scoppa’s “Into The Deep” represents a theme that is dear to the artist and to us at inWomen.Gallery.

At the centre of this representation is the woman, depicted not only in her fragility, but also in her resilient strength. Inspired by the terrible daily news that affects the female world, Federica Scoppa depicts a cactus inside which we see the silhouette of two female legs. The whole image also refers to the depiction of a vulva, a reference to the theme of abuse of women.

“It is no coincidence, therefore, that these plants – among the many flowery metaphors with which literature, poetry and the visual arts have always related to women – were chosen by Federica Scoppa to construct a reflection on the feminine. On the feminine, starting from the body. That resistant and resilient body with which every woman faces her biological destiny – pregnancy, childbirth – and cultural destiny – a condition of historical discrimination from which women are continuing to free themselves, often paying a high price or even losing their lives in the affirmation of their own autonomy – that becomes the body of a cactus is the densest metaphor for the feminine”. (Cristiana Scoppa)

Pic: Federica Scoppa, “Into The Deep”, mixed media on canvas, 18cmx24cm, 2013, © Federica Scoppa.