This artwork is part of our Sydney Contemporary 2024 presentation, exhibiting at Carriageworks 5-8 September.

This body of work titled The Raving Ones recasts mythological figures to challenge historical perceptions, centring the female as an agent of her own desires. Dionysius, the Greek god of ritual madness, was the subject of his loyal female devotees – maenads, or ‘the raving ones’. Aleisa repositions and empowers these ‘mad’ women as deities – empowered and untamed. Sheathed in animal pelts, this cult of strong women devoured Dionysius’ body and blood through the ritualistic sacrifice of his symbolic beasts.

Once depicted as uncontrolled ecstasy, Aleisa has rewritten this narrative with ceramic effigies of maenads. Each ceramic pelt is constructed into a tapestry of over 1000 individual pieces. The repetitious action of individually stitching each follicle evokes a sense of delirium for the artist. This deliriousness mirrors the frenzied maenads who would become liberated through intoxication and dancing.