Palladian = pertaining to the goddess Pallas Athena / to wisdom, knowledge.
This is a series of antique Victorian-era albums. The albums reveal micro-scenes from the lives of notable women scientists such as Émilie du Châtelet, Marie Curie, Emmy Noether, Ada Lovelace, Hypatia and others, using drawings, watercolours, paintings, textiles, symbols and fragments from their writings. Palladian Women alternates between intellectual, scientific, feminine and maternal themes to espouse the idea that femininity and scientific thinking are complementary. Pavlina intentionally used small antique albums as a reference to the Hortus Conclusus ("enclosed garden" in Latin), the symbol of a protected space, a sanctuary. The album clasps represent the protection of science from superstition, of womanhood from patriarchy.
Medium: Mixed media on papers and textiles.
Dimensions: Variable
