T his print stems from Emily Mae Smith's original painting Medusa. The artist transforms her signature broom character into the classic femme fatale villain, with a menacing growl and writhing snakes above her head. The anthropomorphic broom is a signature icon of Smith's works, representing simultaneously the painter's brush, a domestic item often associated with women's work, and the phallus. Medusa is a character from Greek mythology, a cursed beauty with a head surrounded by snakes and turns anyone who looks at her in the eye into stone. While Medusa was a creature associated with horror, many also viewed her as an icon of feminine power. The broom's frontal stance expresses its fierce glare at the viewer even though the eyes are not depicted, perhaps a silent nod to the ingenious of its creator.

Born in 1979, Emily Mae Smith received her MFA from Columbia University and displayed her works across the US, Asia, and Europe. Her works are also part of various public collects ions, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Dallas Museum of Art. With a unique sense of pictorial language, Smith's creative works often flow with a sense of femininity among masculine painting styles while commenting on subjects of gender, sexuality, capitalism, and violence. Her one-of-a-kind flair in art makes her an innovative artistic force to be reckoned with in the contemporary art scene.

這幅版畫源自藝術家的另一幅《美杜莎》畫作。艾米莉・梅・史密斯為她筆下頗具標誌性的掃帚人物加上威脅性的咆哮和一頭扭動中的蛇為秀髮，讓掃帚化身為傳說中的惡女。擬人化的掃帚可以說是史密斯的創作標誌，它不但代表畫家的畫筆，同時是一件被視為與婦女工作相關的家務用具，也是男性生殖器的象徵。美杜莎是希臘神話中的角色，這位受到詛咒的美人的頭髮是一窩亂舞的蛇，可以令任何與她四目交投的人變成石像。可怕的美杜莎，亦同時被視為女性力量的代表人物。本作中的美杜莎掃帚直面觀眾，雖然藝術家沒有為掃帚畫上雙眼，但觀眾足以感受到掃帚兇猛強烈的目光，展示了藝術家的巧思。

生於1979年的艾米莉・梅・史密斯擁有哥倫比亞大學視覺藝術碩士學位，她的作品曾於美國、亞洲及歐洲各地展出，更獲惠特尼美國藝術博物館及達拉斯藝術博物館等多個公共機構收藏。史密斯獨特的視覺語彙，是當代藝壇中一股創新破格的力量；她的創作在（主流的）男性化繪畫風格中別具女性特質，而且透露她對性別、性、資本主義及暴力等主題的想法。