Paintings of “Giantesses” Who Take Their Pain and Magically Grow Stronger Than the World Around Them

“I paint giant­esses,” artist Meg Lionel Mur­phy writes in her Insta­gram bio. Through can­dy-col­ored art­works, she high­lights larg­er-than-life women who have lived through trau­mat­ic pasts that are heal­ing from their past pains (by mag­i­cal­ly grow­ing stronger and scari­er than what’s around them). “It would be easy to dis­re­gard my work as girl­ish and unse­ri­ous,” she writes. “But the paint­ings are dead­ly seri­ous. The wom­xn I paint are fight­ing for their lives and minds.”

Meg has cho­sen to leave the specifics of the sub­jects’ trau­ma beyond the com­po­si­tion. “The hor­ror lies in the sug­ges­tion of bru­tal­i­ty left out­side the frame,” she explains. But don’t let that dis­suade you from view­ing these pieces. “The con­cept may be root­ed in vio­lence, but the play­ful exe­cu­tion promis­es hope, auton­o­my, and healing.”

If you’re local to Min­neapo­lis, you can view Meg’s work in her solo show called Inte­ri­or Vio­lence that runs from Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 8 to Feb­ru­ary 28 at CO exhi­bi­tions.