Lyudmýla Yástreb is a well-known Ukrainian artist and an active participant in the non conformist movement in Odésa.

She was born in 1945 in Sarátov, but her whole life is connected with Odésa. Many ideas and professional techniques that were formulated and implemented by Ludmýla Yástreb formed the basis of the Odésa underground art, represented by her. In the creative work of the artist, the main themes can be distinguished: the image, figure and greatness of a Woman. These aspects occupied her mind all the years of her life, both in the philosophical and aesthetic components of her works.

The work “The Gorgon Medusa” was created in 1979.

In the centre of a sheet of cardboard there is a human face made of foil, it occupies less than half of the sheet. There are pursed small red lips and a straight nose and chin. There are also small eyes, looking at the viewer leaving no doubt that this is a very scary person. Snakes climbing from the head in all directions and occupying the entire sheet make it even more terrifying. This is Medusa the Gorgon, a creature from an ancient Greek myth capable of turning into stone a person who dares to look her in the eye. It is a symbol of death.

This work was created by Lyudmýla Yástreb a year before her death. To this moment the artist had already been fighting the disease for six years and understood that the end was near. The work is an embodiment of the condition of the artist herself: courageous externally, but already weakened internally. Her Medusa is not aggressive, she does not attack, and her gaze is not able to turn anyone to stone. It is a tired Gorgon, abandoned by her former strength, she is no longer active and needs rest. Perhaps she foresees the future. Lyudmýla Yástreb had not previously used foil in her works, but in this work she clearly emphasises it. Cold metal is like a mask.