This is my first artwork in oil pastels on paper, after not having touched the medium for years. This is heavily referenced from Judith by Guido Reni, and was initially done as a requirement in my Studio Arts class for our lesson on Renaissance portraits. However as a response to misogynist events in my school wherein students who spoke out about sexual assault were forcibly silenced, I edited it using Adobe Photoshop to revolve around the theme of Judith, a biblical character who beheaded her abuser. In society's current context, it seems that even if she was being abused, she would still be victim-blamed and shamed for it, thus the "so, who do we blame today? ME" text on the  piece, and her being beheaded. This piece was published along with and largely inspired by the poem This Is No Place For Girls by Elise Ofilada, my best friend. Key lines that inspired it was

 "your institutions have failed you." and "joan. they told you, it was all your fault,".