Burning Woman (Joan of Arc); ca. 2010

Plaster, wood, acrylic paint, wire, electric lighting, mixed media. 22″ w x 80″ h

Questioning how a strong woman can go up in flames, Denyer explores themes of women and power in this mixed media work.

“I had a third armor leg – this was in the 15th century style, the style was worn by Joan of Arc, so of course I had to do something for Joan of Arc. I made the burning of Joan of Arc complete with flicker flames. She stands at the top of a high scaffold because the people in the towns wanted to all watch. Her simple white robe burned off. They watched for a while then put out the flames. They had three questions; one, was she real Joan of Arc? She had tried to escape when once, jumping out the tower window; and two, was she really a woman? How could a woman have accomplished such miracles? And three, was she dead? Yes to all three. So they put more oil and fuel on the fire and burned her for more hours until nothing was left but ashes. They scraped them up, put them in a bag, and threw them in the Seine thereby avoiding any reliquaries. I admire her persistence; she had a very odd and powerful idea and carried it out” -BCD

Image © 2018 Frederick Charles