Fingers laced to crown 

Fernanda Suarez created this digital artwork, ‘Fingers laced to crown’, in the 21st century. In this work, Suarez evokes a mythical sensibility through the natural symbolism of the moon, wheat, and the golden lion. The woman, set against the moon, is an allegorical figure that seems to tame the wild beast. Looking back to antiquity, we see the lion was linked with solar power and royalty and also appears in the biblical story of Daniel. Here, the artist has inverted this traditional hierarchy: rather than facing away from us, the male lion looks boldly ahead while the woman gazes to the side. In recent years, images of female strength and dominion have gained momentum, particularly online, where they are shared and reinterpreted. Suarez’s work is typical of this contemporary moment, where classical and mythic imagery is re-employed to address present-day cultural conditions. Art history gives us the vocabulary and the methodology to explore these cultural shifts. By investigating the appropriation of established symbols, we can begin to understand art’s role in the social discourse of our time.