Veritas Temporis Filia

“Veritas Temporis Filia” – Truth, the Daughter of Time – was the personal motto of Mary Tudor, the controversial “Bloody Mary.” The phrase suggests that truth does not belong to the present moment; it unfolds slowly, in relation to what came before.
After her early death, the throne passed to her half-sister, Elizabeth I. Ruling as an unmarried queen, Elizabeth transformed what was traditionally perceived as female weakness into sovereign strength. Through rhetoric and deliberate refusal, she constructed a form of authority that owed nothing to marriage or dynasty. “My children are my people.” She chose the single life not as an absence, but as a political position.
In this work, I was interested in how time reconfigures power – how what appears fragile or improper in one era may later stand as undeniable authority.
The layered symbol of the vulva transforms into figures rising like smoke, like echoes, like spirits. Each layer generates its own form, and together they create a force greater than the sum of its parts.
It is a reminder of the strength passed down to us – a power rooted in those who came before.