A sculpture of Cara Delevingne based on the Greek mythological monster Medusa has been unveiled.
The artwork by sculptor Aspencrow, made from fibreglass, resin, plastic and silicon, is a larger-than-life version of the model’s head but with bright pink, long-stemmed flowers sprouting and twisting from it instead of hair.
It was also inspired by the 18th century French activist Olympe de Gouges and the piece, entitled Olympe, aims to look at how the women have been able to “change vectors in their gender equality”.
Victoria Aboucaya, manager of London’s JD Malat Gallery, where the work is on display, said: “Medusa is the monstrous elements of the pink that you see coming out of the head and Olympe is the feminist activist so she was fighting for feminist rights and women’s rights as early as the 1700s.
“He’s (Aspencrow’s) using Cara Delevingne as a symbol of today’s femininity and of women today gaining equality,
“She’s obviously got a really feisty personality – she’s the most successful supermodel of today – and so he thought that it would be great to use her as a symbol of independent women today and of fighting.
“But there is that duplicitous element with Medusa because there is that monstrous element where we don’t really know where it’s going and it hasn’t really achieved the status that it could yet, so it’s halfway between the most beautiful woman and also the monstrous element as well where it’s unknown.”
Ms Aboucaya said Delevingne had not yet seen the sculpture in person but would be going to the gallery to view it.
She said: “She’s obviously amazed by it, it’s so life-like – the eyeballs, the hair on her eyebrows.
“Cara Delevingne is famous for her eyebrows so the way he’s done those eyebrows is just incredible, the quality and the realistic nature is just unbelievable.”
Lithuanian artist Aspencrow has previously created sculptures of Conor McGregor and Rihanna.