Women have always been punished for the simple act of questioning and/or saying no...

In the biblical narrative, Lot’s Wife was turned into a "glistening token" of salt for the "sin" of looking back—for witnessing the destruction of her family and home rather than blindly obeying the path ahead demanded by her husband.

I began this series, Wilderness of Salt, during a traumatic period in my own life. It was a way to psychologically connect to the greater whole of womanhood—from Eve to Typhoid Mary—women who have borne the burdens of a patriarchal society and the "unhappy consequences" of their own patriarchally perceived bad decisions.

Today, as we navigate the rise of Christian Nationalism and a legal and social framework designed to return women to a state of "domestic subjection," I’m returning to her story. In a world that still turns a blind eye to systemic abuse, "disobedience" in 2026 is often just another word for refusing to ignore the truth.

It all began with an idea called Wilderness of Salt, inspired by the biblical story and a poem by A.E. Housman (1859-1936):

Half-way, for one commandment broken,

The woman made her endless halt,

And she today, a glistening token,

Stands in the wilderness of salt.

Behind, the vats of judgment brewing

Thundered, and thick the brimstone snowed:

He to the hill of his undoing

Pursued his road.

The project explored the female perspective on loss and regret, balancing images of biblical and mythological women against contemporary counterparts to explore the many facets of the female mystique. Since the beginning, women have borne the burdens of a patriarchal society; this work examines those figures in their moments of "bad decisions" and unhappy consequences.

A victim of occasional bad judgment myself, I could easily relate to the characters I portrayed. I was in good company with these women—from Lot’s Wife to Terry Barton (who started the largest forest fire in Colorado burning a love letter from an abusive ex) to Typhoid Mary (Mallon—not confirmed, but likely a relative), right down to Eve herself. Created during a period of "corporate administrative incarceration," this work was a way to psychologically connect myself to the greater whole of womanhood.

As the project grew, it recalibrated into other linked series: Even in the Garden, Inner Beasts, and Goddess. It reverberates today as I contemplate America’s embrace of Christian Nationalism, the Turning Point Project, and her blind eye turned toward the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and his worldwide cohort. It is all pretty horrifying.

As Lot’s Wife was the cornerstone to launch the series, I begin 2026 with her, contemplating the future of my sisters and me as we go forward in this hostile world. Embedded in the burlap are two Hebrew letters critical to recontextualizing the biblical "sin" of looking back: (ע) Ayin, meaning "eye," representing her insight and the ability to "see" beyond physical appearances to understand the deeper truth of her situation; and Shin (ש), representing fire, spirit, and the "almighty god of man." The large, haunting eye suggests that her "disobedience" was actually an act of witnessing—refusing to turn a blind eye to the destruction of her home and family. By placing Shin alongside Ayin, the work creates a visual dialogue between patriarchal law and the female experience of witnessing it.

This was one of my first pieces to use burlap as a canvas. Its frayed, raw edges mirror the "unhappy consequences" and the disintegration of Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt—now a fragment, as if recovered from a ruin, reinforcing the idea of these women as "glistening tokens" of historical trauma.

Appropriately, in 2025, one of the pieces from this body of work, Banshee, was compared to Francisco Goya’s Black Paintings for its psychological expressionism and bleak outlook for humanity. Again, I appreciate the "good company." Yet, sadly, not much has changed; the burden remains on women to make a change or face continued abuse at the hands of man.

As we go forward in a world that can be hostile to sisters everywhere, I look back to Lot’s Wife—not as a "glistening token" of a mistake, but as a cornerstone for our future.

#VirginiaMallon #ContemporaryArt #LotsWife #EvenInTheGarden #PsychologicalExpressionism #WomenInArt #ArtAndActivism