GO BACK

Familiars (2021 – )

"I felt that women were feline creatures and men were more like dogs. While dogs are faithful and friendly, cats are cool, detached, and unreliable... You always need to keep women at arm's length. We don't want anyone taking over our souls, and women have a habit of doing that."
–– Bob Kane, co-creator of Catwoman
The story is repeated again and again: a woman fights her enemies with sex and magic. Our villainesses use seduction and witchcraft against our heroes. This series explores these cultural relationships between femininity, sexuality, magic, and destruction. I have painted women within the silhouettes of cats, as cats are subject to similar associations. Witches are often seen with their feline familiars.
The women in this series have their origins in both fiction and reality. A few are fictional characters who use their sexuality and magic for nefarious purposes. Others are prominent women from history who were slandered as whores and witches, accused of having attained power by manipulating or cursing the men around them. The rest are depictions of various women engaging in behaviors associated with feminine rebellion, such as reading or smoking or dancing. The title of this series is a play on words that refers to the cat as a witch’s animal companion, as well as the repeated trope of the ‘sexy witch’–– a demonization which becomes exhaustingly familiar.