Mary Beth Edelson’s Selected Wall Collages depicts women from myths, politics, and pop culture.

Mary Beth Edelson’s Selected Wall Collages takes you on a journey through historical eras, different cultures, and their unique representations of women and goddesses. The whole work is an amalgamation of references from art history, mythology, and pop culture - plus photos of the artist. Edelson created the work over a time span of almost 40 years, from 1972 to 2011. If you look closely, you can spot Sandro Botticelli’s Venus, the singer Grace Jones, Uma Thurman’s iconic character from Pulp Fiction, the infamous cone-shaped bra of Madonna, and Michelle Obama.

The massive collage also contains portrayals of ancient goddesses with whimsical backstories. At the top of the triangle-shaped wall installation is a depiction of a Sheela na gig carving. Sheela na gigs are naked squatting female figures with an enlarged vulva. Researchers assume that she is a pre-Christian folk goddess whose vulva represents her fertility and the power to give life. 

Another goddess depicted is the Greek goddess Baubo. To cheer up the sad Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, who was looking for her daughter, Baubo flashed her by exposing her genitals. If that’s not feminism and sexual liberation, I don’t know what is. Mary Beth Edelson said that her depictions of goddesses like Baubo, Sheela na gig, an Egyptian bird goddess, and Minoan snake goddesses demonstrate how women were viewed and/or worshiped in different eras. It's a recurring theme in her work.

Selected Wall Collages offers a great variety of perspectives on women throughout mythology and history, women’s bodies in culture, and other concepts of femininity. These topics are characteristic of Mary Beth Edelson’s work. The artist uses the portrayal of goddesses to challenge patriarchy and predominant ideas of female identity while honoring the history of women.