“Hyptia of the Book" oil on Cardboard 25x28 (2022)

The aim of this painting is to symbolize a very important case of misogyny, which has no precedent in history. The oldest known female thinker named Hyptia was taken from the academy by a Christian fanatic group to the church called Caeserion after the scientist was declared as a magician who made a deal with the devil by Bishop Cyril in Alexandria. Here, Hyptia is killed by being stripped of her skin with oyster shells, and her body parts are burned in the fire.

After Hyptia's murder, the trials that will take place are hindered by a bribe from Cyril, who will later be honored by the Catholic Church as a Saint.
In 431, 16 years after the death of Hyptia, the Supreme Council of the Catholic Church took place in Ephesus, St. Cyril was fiercely advocating for the proclamation of Mary as the Mother of God on the subject of Mary, which would create distinction in the Christian world.  As a result of the council, the title "God Bearer (Theotokos)" is attributed to Mary. This sanctity served to approve various prohibitions against women through the Virgin Mary. The Christian world inherited the misogyny that existed in the understanding of women of the Greek world  .
For this reason, in this composition inspired by Botticelli's famous "Madonna of the book", Hyptia and Mary are paired, Hyptia is blinded, her mouth closed, pale and weak as the masculine punctuation devices wish, she is there to read from the bible as in Botticelli's painting to the Baby Jesus. But she will not be able to do so obviously. She even lit the candle without realizing that it was daylight. I think that the coincidence of Hyptia and Mary is a nice highlight on the event in the history of the Mysogeny that embodies this great dichotomy on understanding of woman. In the opening of the window behind them, Jesus hung on the Greek Columns is depicted and it is depicted because that a preacher trying to convey relatively egalitarian ideals to the corrupt human society like Jesus was intellectually clumped by masculine dominations inherited from the Greek world.