In Bitches in Heat, artists Lydia Pettit and Olivia Sterling explore raw, untamed desire on the margins. Pettit channels Paula Rego’s iconic ‘dog women’, crawling across a canvas with talon-like nails and bared teeth, while Sterling depicts playful legs dangling through a ceiling, with a hand offering a retro cocktail. Their work challenges contemporary clichés about desire, using animalistic imagery – Pettit’s feral self-portraits and Sterling’s symbolic food motifs – to express individual wants and needs unapologetically. Inspired by everything from The Evil Dead to the humour of Beryl Cooke and Otto Dix, they portray libido as a pure, chaotic force, free from judgement – as it should be.
Bitches in Heat runs from 13 September – 13 October 2024 at GUTS Gallery, London, UK