Jezebel reconsiders one of the most vilified women in biblical history. Traditionally remembered as manipulative, immoral, and dangerously influential, Jezebel has long functioned as a cultural warning against female authority and ambition.
This work examines the tension between power and gender, asking whether Jezebel’s infamy emerged solely from her actions, or from the discomfort provoked by a woman exercising political influence openly and unapologetically. Though Queen beside King Ahab, biblical narratives often depict her as the more decisive and forceful presence. Traits celebrated in male rulers became evidence of corruption in her.
Rather than offering a simple defense of Jezebel, the painting invites viewers to interrogate the machinery of historical storytelling itself: who is permitted complexity, who is condemned, and how women who refuse submission are transformed into archetypes of danger.
Within Bad Girls of the Bible, Jezebel becomes more than a villain. She becomes a lens through which to examine power, memory, and the enduring politics of female behavior.
Jezebel
From the series Bad Girls of the Bible
Media: oil and acrylic on canvas
Jezebel reconsiders one of the most vilified women in biblical history. Traditionally remembered as manipulative, immoral, and dangerously influential, Jezebel has long functioned as a cultural warning against female authority and ambition.
This work examines the tension between power and gender, asking whether Jezebel’s infamy emerged solely from her actions, or from the discomfort provoked by a woman exercising political influence openly and unapologetically. Though Queen beside King Ahab, biblical narratives often depict her as the more decisive and forceful presence. Traits celebrated in male rulers became evidence of corruption in her.
Rather than offering a simple defense of Jezebel, the painting invites viewers to interrogate the machinery of historical storytelling itself: who is permitted complexity, who is condemned, and how women who refuse submission are transformed into archetypes of danger.
Within Bad Girls of the Bible, Jezebel becomes more than a villain. She becomes a lens through which to examine power, memory, and the enduring politics of female behavior.