Things Men Have Said To Me Instead Of Hello
2025
Things Men Have Said To Me Instead Of Hello is a deeply personal, yet universal, collection exploring the subtleties of sexual violence women experience every single day. By sharing actual messages I received on dating apps - blown up to unignorable proportions and rendered in symbolically feminine mixed media (lace, vintage jewellery, safety pins, pearls) - I want us all to acknowledge how heinous and bizarre this behaviour is. But more than that: how normal and insidious it's become, and what that says about how far we still have to go.
This collection is an invitation to see, name, and stop accepting what we've been conditioned to tolerate.
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Things… comprises 10 pieces inspired by things actual men said to me instead of hello during a period of online dating in my mid-thirties. I took screenshots of the most heinous, graphic, and creepy openers and, although at the time I wasn’t sure what I was saving them for, the idea for this collection arrived a few years later.
The purpose of bringing these ‘greetings’ (if you can call them that) into the light is not to demonise men, and paint them as predatory monsters in contrast to the delicate saintliness of women *eyeroll*. It’s to open the floor for discussions about the patriarchal waters we are all swimming in, perpetuate, and, to a greater or lesser degree, are complicit in.
I want to provoke discussions about rape culture, the male gaze, beauty standards etc etc, and explore all the ways in which we all benefit or are hindered by the status quo. Most importantly, I want you to join me in the horrified realisation of how NORMAL we’ve made all of these things.
When I’ve told people about this collection, the responses from women and men are vastly different. The women know immediately what I’m referring to, and usually respond with some related (horror) story, delivered in the blasé manner of someone who has been dealing with this shit her whole life (because she has).
The men on the other hand, range from absolutely horrified, to knowing stuff like this happens but only in an abstract kinda way, to (on one memorable occasion) asking me if any of the ‘Men’ I’m referring to have ever mentioned my “great tits” - I kid you not.
I’m not going to go into all of the ways that the patriarchy is a problem for men as much as it is a problem for women (and I’m aware that I’m leaning into the gender binary here for simplicity’s sake, but really it’s a problem for ALL of us), but suffice to say that we can’t make things better unless we can see, identify, and name the problem.
This collection is my contribution to bringing these open secrets into the light.
Keep scrolling to see the full collection
THINGS MEN HAVE SAID TO ME INSTEAD OF HELLO
Exhibition at MDS Studio & Gallery
I’m delighted to be working with MDS Studio & Gallery to show my latest collection, Things Men Have Said To Me Instead Of Hello. Please join us for opening night if you’re able to, or pop in to see the show until March 8th.
Opening Night
Friday 23rd January 2026, 7pm
Birkegade 7, 2200 København N
Things Men Have Said To Me Instead Of Hello
35 x 28 cm
Acrylic paint on papier-mâché.
This piece uses the aesthetics of ancient Greek pottery to highlight the absurdity and self-importance of one of the wordiest contributions to this collection.
Sales Pitch
It Won’t Make A Summer
27.5 x 24 cm
Acrylic paint on papier-mâché.
Spittoons like this were traditionally used as receptacles for men’s bodily waste, and I’ve used that form in this piece to explore the reduction of women and their bodies to mere sexual receptacles.
Send Nudes
Send Nudes is a zine/photo project exploring what happens when we reclaim our bodies and our nudity for ourselves.
Fetish/Phobia
47 x 37.5 cm
Acrylic, rhinestones, tights, batting, acrylic resin on canvas, framed in gilded wood.
Disturbingly flesh-like, this extremely tactile piece oozes out of the frame, and explores the way women’s bodies are reduced to commodities in the metaphorical ‘meat market’.
Lady Monster
45 x 54 cm
Acrylic, glitter, rhinestones, snake shed, acrylic resin on canvas, framed in lacquered wood with gilded beading.
Part revenge fantasy, part reclamation of power, this piece is a celebration of the OG Lady Monster herself: Medusa. Because women have been dealing with crap from men for literal centuries.
Jailbait
51 x 65 cm
Acrylic, spray paint, rhinestones, lace, vintage jewellery, beads, embroidery floss, acrylic resin on vintage canvas, framed in gilded wood.
This piece exposes the disturbing reality of men who view teenage girls as sexual objects, created with deliberately juvenile materials to highlight exactly how young and vulnerable sixteen-year-olds actually are.
The Void
53 x 43 cm
Acrylic paint and acrylic stones on vintage canvas, framed in lacquered wood with gilded beading.
Using layers of black-on-black where only texture and light reveal the crude acronym, this piece transforms the conversational void of "DTF?" into a literal black hole that you must lean uncomfortably close to decipher.
A Thousand Tiny Pricks
42 x 53 cm
Acrylic paint, felt, and safety pins on vintage canvas, framed in gilded wood and plaster.
Using soft feminine felt repeatedly pierced by hard metal pins, this piece transforms the death-by-a-thousand-cuts experience of sexual shaming into a bold, colour-saturated refusal to be cowed by patriarchal judgment.
First Things First
55 x 70 cm
Acrylic paint, rhinestones, glitter, a vintage brooch, and acrylic resin on vintage canvas, framed in gilded and lacquered wood.
Tiny red rhinestone letters force viewers into an uncomfortable intimacy with this piece, mirroring the effect of the original message, while a kaleidoscopic and vaguely exasperated cat models how to own your sexual agency.
The Epitome of Elegance
59 x 79 cm
Acrylic paint, vintage jewellery, plastic & glass beads, freshwater pearls, and acrylic resin on vintage canvas, framed in gilded wood.
Hundreds of vintage pearls - symbols of purity and virtue - spell out vulgar slang in a devastating commentary on how rape culture disguises sexual aggression as innocent compliments, forcing viewers to confront the hidden violence in seemingly harmless words.
A Keen Eye For Detail
73 x 53 x 20 cm
Acrylic paint, rhinestones, and gold-plated chain on papier-mâché, framed in gilded wood.
A magnificent three-dimensional sculptural piece, highlighting the effect of objectification in fragmenting the body. Except in this instance the fragmentation also serves to reclaim the narrative and render the original comment redundant.