Male Gaze – Female Gaze

Hercules and Galatea, Jane Lynas, April 2022

This sculpture, by Matthew Derbyshire, outside Cambridge North Station depicts Greco-Roman deities Hercules and Galatea and is intended to question traditional perceptions. Galatea is shown as a strong, dynamic and empowered figure challenging Hercules, who is sculpted to appear rigid and dated.  The sculpture explores analogue and digital technologies to create contrasting figures: Galatea, produced digitally, conveys power and poise, reflecting the precision with which she was made; Hercules is a fractured, hand-made presence.

Galatea is a name popularly applied to the statue carved of ivory by Pygmalion of Cyprus, which then came to life in Greek mythology. Hercules is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmene.

The work in Cambridge Square, is part of a series of art projects commissioned and supported by The Chesterton Partnership developing Cambridge North.

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