Semper Femina is a photography book that reimagines archetypal female figures from mythology and fairy tales through a contemporary feminist lens. The Latin phrase “semper femina,” meaning “always a woman,” encapsulates the core of this project: an exploration of the evolving, complex, and often misrepresented nature of womanhood. Drawing inspiration from the poetic narratives of ancient stories and the emotional truth of personal experience, the book interrogates the roles women have historically been assigned, and how these roles have shaped—often constrained—our understanding of femininity.

The title Semper Femina pays homage not only to the women in these stories, but also to those who have consumed, internalized, and grown up with such narratives. Borrowed from Laura Marling’s 2017 album, the phrase embodies both a celebration and a questioning of what it means to be female. This duality—softness and power, beauty and rage—informs the emotional tone of the work. My visual language is further shaped by the influence of Jo Ann Callis and Cindy Sherman, whose staged, symbolic photography challenged dominant depictions of femininity. Callis’s use of color, texture, and domestic tension, along with Sherman’s exploration of constructed identity, inspired me to create deliberately artificial yet emotionally resonant scenes. Through this photographic book, I attempt to reclaim and reimagine female archetypes from myth and fairytale, using staging and metaphor to express the inner complexities and contradictions of womanhood from a contemporary feminist perspective.

The photography combines portraiture, still life, landscape, and symbolic mise-en-scène to construct a dreamlike narrative space. Lighting, costume, and gesture are carefully choreographed to reflect emotional states and psychological transformation. We also integrated poetic texts—by feminist poets such as Patricia Smith, Suniti Namjoshi, and Anne Kwok— into the layout, allowing visual and literary storytelling to intertwine. Original illustrations and thoughtful page design add a fairytale quality, blurring the line between childhood imagination and adult reinterpretation.

This project is deeply personal. It grew out of conversations between women, and a desire to reclaim the stories we have inherited. It critiques the way traditional narratives often reduce women to objects of desire, figures of fear, or symbols of virtue. At the same time, it offers an alternative: a space for ambiguity, agency, and emotional honesty. Through this book, I hope to invite viewers—especially young women—to reflect on how stories shape their identities, and to consider the power of rewriting those stories on their own terms.

Test: The Damsel

Test:  Medusa